
CopyrightN . 



COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT. 



Words and Sentences 



INCLUDING 



A Review of Grammar 



ALFEED Mo HITCHCOCK 

Hartford Public High School 




NEW YORK 
HENEY HOLT AND COMPANY 



irSs] 



LIBRARY of 00N8RESS 

Two Copies Receiver 

JAN 27 1908 

_^ Oopyng^H tntr> 
3USS A AXc. Ho. 
COPY 3. 




^F T^S .S^itfE AUTHOR 

Hitchcock's Practice Book in 
English Composition 



226 



pp. 



1 2 mo. 80 cents 



Kenneth Beal, Salem {Mass ) High School.— It is the first 
case of a book on that subject that I know of where the writer 
has had the courageous good sense to limit his effort rigidly to 
actual possibilities for the average boy and girl. . . . You 
may put me on record as liking the wholesome, live good sense 
of the composition. 

Helen Marshall, Free Academy, Norwich, Conn.:— I have 
been experimenting with the Practice Book in English Com- 
position in one of my classes, and find it is one of the most 
practical books I have seen for teaching much of the rudiment- 
ary work. It is just what it professes to be, and is very helpful. 

A. J. George, Newton {Mass.) High School: — After examin- 
ing the book, 1 have decided to recommend it for trial. 

R. "W. Bowles, Phillip's Exeter Academy:— I am glad to 
say that Mr. Hitchcock's little book has impressed me more 
favorably than any other work of this kind that I have seen. 
The author's treatment of the subject seems to be unusually 
fresh and interesting. I shall turn it over to our teacher in 
Junior work with my earnest recommendation that he give it 
a trial. 

Mary R. Willard, Jamestown (N. V.) Hig-h School:— Mr. 
Hitchcock's understanding of the faults of young students, and 
his application of the proper remedy, amounts to positive 
genius. 

Henry Holt and Company 



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PREFACE 

The exercises here collected are the result of a 
strong conviction that just now, in these days of 
slovenly, lawless speech, we teachers need to say to 
our pupils, Come, before it is too late let us go back 
to dictionary and grammar. No matter what else is 
left undone, we must learn to spell and pronounce com- 
mon words correctly; we must learn how to construct 
sentences that obey the laws of syntax. 

At what point in the course may such exercises as 
these be introduced with profit? In most schools, it 
is safe to say, drill in accuracy of speech is needed 
every year. We have all too little of it and — this 
is heresy — far too much theme-writing, too much 
and too elaborate study of heavy classics. The 
foundations are neglected. 

It is hardly necessary to acknowledge in detail my 
indebtedness to Archbishop Trench and to the recog- 
nized authorities on English grammar. A book of 
this sort cannot hope to be original, except, perhaps, 
as ingenuity may occasionally be shown in setting 
forth principles clearly, or in devising exercises to 
drive them home. 

iii 



CONTENTS 

I 
WORDS 



I. Getting Acquainted with the Dictionary 1 

II. Pronunciation 11 

III. Word-building and Spelling 17 

II 

A BEIEF EEVIEW OF GRAMMAR.. 35 



WORDS AND SENTENCES 

PART I 

WORDS 

I.— GETTING ACQUAINTED WITH THE 
DICTIONARY 

The English language is made up of hundreds of 
thousands of words. Not all of these are in use to- 
day; some are found only in very old books, and still 
others are slowly dying. When the spinning-wheel 
went out of use, a small group of spinning-wheel 
terms slipped away because there was nothing for 
them to do. When the stage-coach disappeared, 
along with it went a little vocabulary pertaining to 
stage-coach things. Every important invention, we 
may almost say every change in fashion, retires, some- 
times permanently, a few words — renders them ob- 
solete. 

Related in a way to obsolete words are not a few 
terms that are in every-day use, yet are found in some 
small province only. The English-speaking people 



2 WORDS AND SENTENCES 

are widely scattered; and though all have the same 
names for most things, still each country, each sec- 
tion of a country, each community even, has a few 
words that are not found elsewhere, or if found else- 
where, then with different meanings. There are 
terms peculiar to the English colonies in Africa, for 
example. New Englanders employ a few terms that 
sound strange to the ear of the Southerner. Pro- 
vincialisms, as such stay-at-home words are called, 
are to be found everywhere, doing good service, but 
in a narrow field. 

Every art, trade, occupation, science has its sepa- 
rate vocabulary of technical terms. The lawyer em- 
ploys many expressions that are meaningless to most 
of us; so too does the doctor. It is said that the 
student of zoology who reads all that has been written 
on this branch of science will find over one hundred 
thousand terms employed, comparatively few of 
which are in common use. Every line of manufac- 
ture, every branch of sport even, has its technical 
terms. They do not stay at home as do provincial- 
isms, but each group is of special service to some 
one class of individuals. 

A recently published dictionary defines over three 
hundred thousand terms, all of which, it is .claimed, 
are in active use to-day or are to be found in books 
that English-speaking people may care to read. 
This number is amazing, especially when we bear in 
mind that many obsolete and provincial words and 
a far greater number of technical terms have been 



ACQUAINTANCE WITH DICTIONARY 3 

excluded. The dictionary is even more select than 
this. Every day new words come into existence. 
When things are discovered or invented, they must 
be named. How many terms associated with steam 
and electricity were unknown a century ago! Ex- 
ploration, trade, manufacture, science, all are con- 
tributing each year a large nam her of new words. 
But not all these find their way at once into the 
dictionary. They must first bo tried, passed about 
from mouth to mouth for a time, experimented with, 
till it is reasonably sure that they are really needed. 

Not only is the dictionary cautious in accepting 
newly coined words, as they are called; it is careful, 
though perhaps not sufficiently so, about admitting 
many expressions commonly heard on the street or 
wherever people talk loosely — words that are ex- 
ceedingly coarse and vulgar, others that are what we 
know as slang. Such colloquial or loose expressions 
are seldom found in print. They dwell on the out- 
skirts of respectability, unfit to appear in good 
societ} 7 ; or we may think of them as vagrants. 
Occasionally a word of this sort works its way out 
of the slums of speech and at last gains admittance 
to the dictionary; yet where one succeeds in living 
down its low origin, hundreds remain but mouth- 
words, without respectability. Most of them live 
but a short time. 

The immensity of the English language, even when 
we exclude the relatively unimportant groups of 
words just considered — the obsolete, the provincial, 



4 WORDS AND SENTENCES 

the technical, the newly coined, the colloquial or 

loose — is difficult to realize, except as one compares 
it with his own scant vocabulary. Shakespeare, we 
are told, used at least fifteen thousand different words, 
Milton eight thousand. The average man of to-day, 
it is estimated, employs about five thousand. But 
how about you? How much of the English language 
do you possess? In a way, it is all yours; in a truer 
sense, no one really owns a word till he has mastered 
it — can pronounce it, spell it, and knows precisely 
what it means. If you were to attempt to make a 
dictionary and record in it simply the words you have 
thoroughly mastered, the words which you really 
own, what would be the result? 

Fortunately no one will ever set a task so unreason- 
able. Every schoolboy knows that his vocabulary 
is a ssiall one, that he misspells, mispronounces, mis- 
uses many of the terms he commonly employs. It is 
no disgrace to be young; most of the blunders, care- 
less mistakes which fall from the lips of schoolboys 
and schoolgirls, or slip from their pens in writing 
letters, are pardonable. Yet a time should come, 
and usually does come, when the average youth be- 
gins to feel ashamed when he blunders in his speech. 
He wants to put away childish errors. He prefers 
not to misspell, mispronounce, and misuse words. 
Perhaps someone has laughed at him for spelling 
college with a d, or for pronouncing gentlemen as if it 
were spelled genlemun, or for writing Mary's voice 
was edible as jar as the corner, or for closing a letter 



ACQUAINTANCE WITH DICTIONARY 5 

with Yours respectively. It is not pleasant to be 
laughed at. 

Reforming one's speech, however, is not an easy 
matter. Many of the words found in the youth's 
vocabulary have been picked up by the ear, on the 
street, on the playground; the eye may never have 
seen them in the printed page. And many words are 
so commonly mispronounced, or indistinctly uttered, 
or improperly employed, that the ear does not re- 
ceive what is correct. Other terms are acquired 
from reading; but the young reader rushes along so 
rapidly that the eye merely glances at words and 
does not hesitate to skip whatever looks difficult in 
the way of long or strange expressions. In this most 
natural manner the mind receives many words which 
have been imperfectly seen ; the memory is crowded 
with wrong or indistinct impressions. It is indeed 
difficult, where so much needs correcting, to de- 
termine where and how to begin. Here are a few 
simple suggestions. 

First, be convinced that the undertaking is worth 
while. Every word mastered is a word owned; it is 
so much power. We need all the power we can get, 
in this busy age. A large vocabulary may not be re- 
quired for the work you are to do, but a fully mas- 
tered vocabulary is necessary. Mistakes in speech 
are costly; they cause delays and misunderstand- 
ings. Have too a little pride in the matter. In- 
correct speech is the badge of illiteracy. 

Second, be more careful about what you read and 



6 WORDS AND SENTENCES 

how you read. Form the habit of reading aloud ten 
minutes every day, scanning each word closely, pro- 
nouncing distinctly, bringing out clearly the mean- 
ing of each sentence. No book is better for this 
kind of drill than the Bible, but any good book will 
do, or even the daily newspaper. Memorize a short 
poem, now and then, or a paragraph of vigorous 
prose. The purpose of exercise of this sort is to train 
the eye and the ear and the tongue to do their work 
more carefully. 

Third, take pains to use language correctly when 
talking and writing.' Break yourself of the habit of 
careless expression. The little training received in 
school will amount to nothing, if you permit your- 
self to abuse language when you are on the street or 
at home. Correct expression conies through habit. 
Keep in training all the time. 

Finally, try to become interested in words; learn 
to respect them. Stud}dng coins or stamps is not a 
foolish fad, neither is collecting picture postals; but 
words are more interesting than coins or stamps or 
postals, and are better worth studying. On the 
Study of Words, by Archbishop Trench, though 
written years ago, is a most delightful book for 
present-day readers. Words and their Ways in Eng- 
lish Speech, by Greenough and Kittredge, a more re- 
cent work, contains many interesting chapters. But 
the best book of all is the dictionary itself. By all 
means own a good one and learn how to use it. 

Looked at in one way, the dictionary is a vast 



ACQUAINTANCE WITH DICTIONARY 7 

collection of condensed compositions, each telling all 
that the average person needs to know about some 
word: how it is spelled and pronounced, and what 
are its meanings. Frequently a quotation containing 
the word properly used will be given ; and sometimes 
a group of synonyms, or terms which have nearly the 
same meaning. The dictionary does more than this. 
Whenever possible, it tells the life-story of a word — 
where it came from, what it meant originally; for 
many words change in meaning from age to age, just 
as a person's character changes during his lifetime. 

But there is another way of regarding the diction- 
ary. It is a great law book. Ours is a free country, 
yet we are not free to do as we please. We must en- 
dure, for the common good, restraint of many kinds. 
Words are free; but when we misuse them we be- 
come law-breakers. One has no more right to abuse 
or misuse his country's language than he has to de- 
stroy his neighbor's property. The dictionary, stern 
book, lays down laws regarding spelling, pronuncia- 
tion, meanings, which word-respecting people obey. 

Form the habit, then, of consulting a good, un- 
abridged dictionary. See what the law says about 
this and that term which you are using commonly, 
yet with a suspicion that you may be using it im- 
properly. Lay down the book you are reading, now 
and then, and look up the meaning of some new word. 
If an expression has an odd sound to your ear, and 
you find yourself wondering where it came from, how 
it got its present meaning, turn to the dictionary. 



8 WORDS AND SENTENCES 

Perhaps it will tell you precisely what you wish to 
know. Practice of this kind soon becomes fascinat- 
ing, for words are wonderful when studied. 



EXERCISES 

I. Reread Chapter One to see if it does not contain a 
few words about whose meanings you are uncertain. 
Before consulting the dictionary, try to reason out for 
yourself what each word must mean. 

II. Open the dictionary at random and select an in- 
teresting word. Give, in complete sentences, all the 
information the dictionary supplies concerning it. 

III. Without consulting a dictionary, try to discover 
how the following terms became a part of the English 
language: grunt, hiss, mew, snarl, twitter, whiz, click, 
chatter, chirp, crackle. What other words of this sort 
can you suggest? 

IV. The following are representatives of a class of 
words which have come into the language in an inter- 
esting way. Try to discover their origin, consulting for 
this purpose an unabridged dictionary. Italics, canary, 
champagne, meander, worsted, cologne, copper, atlas, 
herculean, tantalize, martial, phaeton, volcano, cereal, 
panic, macadam, guy, babel, tawdry, quixotic, bedlam, 
lynch, mackintosh, gingham, damask, dimity, dollar, 
calico, cambric, boycott, derrick, artesian, guillotine, pull- 
man, pompadour, dunce, namby-pamby, colossal. 

V. Nearly one-third of our language is, directly or 
indirectly, of Latin origin; but every nation has con- 
tributed a few terms. Where did each of the following 



ACQUAINTANCE WITH DICTIONARY 9 

originate? First guess, then consult the dictionary. 
Wigwam, potato, tea, candy, yacht, sabbath, soprano, 
adieu, postscript, telephone, chess, snob, perk, lad, bun- 
galow, mosquito, tulip, ambassador, daisy, czar, canoe, 
physics, minister, crag, dairy. 

VI. Often words become doubly interesting when 
their derivation is known. Thimble, for example, comes 
from an old Anglo-Saxon word thuma meaning thumb. 
Was the thimble once worn on the thumb? Squirrel is 
from a Greek word meaning shadow-tail. So a squirrel is 
an animal that casts a shadow with its tail? Look up 
the derivation of the following: Emma, Margaret, silly, 
lunatic, cranberry, miser, witch, cunning, salary, style, 
indent, pope, curfew, linen, acrobat, villain, sophomore, 
dandelion, buxom. 

VII. Sometimes the full force of a word is not appre- 
ciated until its derivation is known. Dilapidated, for 
example, is from a Latin word lapis meaning a stone, 
and the prefix dis meaning apart. Knowing this, the 
word presents to the mind a picture of a stone building 
tumbled down. Consulting a good dictionary, try to 
discover the original meaning of the following: December, 
manuscript, bisect, phonograph, quadruped, bicycle, Flor- 
ida, subterranean, centennial, accumulate, manufacture, 
error, eradicate, circus, valedictory, alderman, journey, 
neighbor, arduous, wealth, mayor, Sunday, Monday, 
Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday. 

VIII. The first ten words in the group below are 
Saxon; the rest are Norman-French. At one time the 
Saxons and the Normans lived side by side in England. 
Which were the conquerors and which the conquered 
people? Scepter, throne, royalty, court, castle, prince, 



10 WORDS AND SENTENCES 

palace, treasurer, hall, duke; spade, rake, scythe, rye, oats, 
house, home, hearth. 

IX. Explain the meaning of the following terms as 
applied to words: obsolete, provincial, technical, newly 
coined, slang, colloquial. Try to think of examples of 
each kind. You will find in the Bible many words no 
longer used in common speech. Strictly speaking, 
however, they are not obsolete, but archaic. Archaic 
means out of fashion but still understood. If you have 
a friend who has at some time lived in a distant part 
of the country, you will notice, probably, that he has 
in his vocabulary a few provincial expressions. 



II.— PRONUNCIATION 

Clear enunciation does not make a gentleman, 
but it is a sign of good breeding. Educated people, 
refined, courteous people, those who respect lan- 
guage and are thoughtful of the comfort of others, try 
to speak distinctly and correctly. They consider it 
ill-mannered, when reading aloud or talking, to mum- 
ble their words, misplace accents, clip syllables, or 
otherwise abuse language. 

Mispronunciation is. due principally to carelessness. 
We know how most of the commoner words should 
be pronounced, but we are slaves to habit — the habit 
of reading and talking too rapidly. Ruskin, a great 
English essayist, once said, "If you read ten pages of 
a good book, letter by letter, that is to say, "with real 
accuracy, you are for evermore in some measure an 
educated person." This kind of careful reading, the 
eye noting every syllable, every letter, must form the 
basis of all serious effort to learn how to pronounce. 
But the ear must help the eye, intently listening when 
those whom it is safe to imitate are reading aloud 
or talking. And the vocal organs must be trained to 

11 



12 WORDS AND SENTENCES 

obey; for it is one thing to know how a given word 
should be pronounced, and quite another thing to be 
able to pronounce it. Training the eye, the ear, and 
the tongue to take pains: that is the secret of the 
whole matter. 

The following exercises are exceedingly simple. 
Their purpose is tc call attention to a few of the many 
words commonly mispronounced. To run through 
them once or twics will accomplish little; they call 
for repeated practice, day after day. 



EXERCISES 

I. Pronounce the following, making sure that the ac- 
cent falls where it should. If in doubt, consult a good 
dictionary. 

Address, recess, discourse, influence, express, illustrate, 
character, finance, mischievous, deficit, precedence, prece- 
dent, mustache, romance, herculean, exquisite, alloy, alms, 
combatant, reputable, infamous, condolence, caricature, 
comparable, interesting, incomparable, disreputable, formi- 
dable, gondola, chastisement, clandestine, irremediable, 
hyperbole, idea. 

II. In careless speech perhaps becomes praps, usually 
contracts into usally. All the words in the following 
group suffer from this kind of abuse. Pronounce care- 
fully, giving each syllable due attention. 

General, several, personal, temperance, regular, reason- 
able, laboratory, difference, singular, perhaps, calculate, 
usually, naturally, governor, original, parenthesis, inci- 
dentally, superintendent, delivery, enthusiasm, miserable, 



PRONUNCIATION 13 

reverend, bravery, machinery, battery, restaurant, sentinel, 
military, curiosity, cardinal, artistically, boisterous, il- 
literate, miniature, vulnerable, sarsaparilla, poem. 

III. Ath el etics, sawr, drownded, and naow are com- 
mon mispronunciations of athletics, saw, drowned, and 
now. Occasionally a silent letter is sounded, as in often 
and herb. Be careful not to make mistakes of this sort 
when pronouncing the following words: 

Brethren, draw, business, down, often, height, umbrella, 
sword, cow, Wales, spasm, saw, salmon, found, herb, 
house, ought, athletics, soda, straw, intellect, law, mountain, 
how, persevere, caught, column, drowned, drama, com- 
plainant, spasm, extra, thought, soften. 

IV. Punkin and cunnin are common mispronuncia- 
tions of pumpkin and cunning. Pay especial attention 
to consonants when pronouncing the following words : 

Fact, government, perfect, speaking, quarter, orphan, 
connect, including, arctic, particular, adjacent, pumpkin, 
partridge, expect, leaving, except, extract, February, in- 
ferring, anarchy, instinct, recognize, tract, anything, 
recognition, attract, cunning, subtract, reading, object, 
doing, accept, Harvard. 

V. Pronounce, taking pains to give full value to the 
vowel in each final syllable. Do not turn object into 
objict, nor judgment into judgmunt. 

Providence, statement, sentiment, professor, benevolence, 
gentlemen, object, similar, amusement, admittance, govern- 
ment, regular, parliament, difference, reverend, singular, 
independent, rudiments, audience, prominent, reverence, 
restaurant, vehement, countrymen, irrelevant, judgment, 
disconsolate, argument, jurymen, extravagance, battlement, 
accomplishment, accident, intemperance. 



14 WORDS AND SENTENCES 

VI. Italian should not be pronounced as if spelled 
Eyetalian, nor American as if it were Amurican. Pay 
particular attention to all the vowels in this group of 
words : 

Foreigner, nominate, get, educate, rather, visible, Ameri- 
can, capability, candidate, animal, complication, Coli- 
seum, engine, yet, Italian, solemn, definition, ceremony, 
genuine, separate, barbarism, clemency, representative. 

VII. Give the vowel o its full sound. Do not sub- 
stitute the sound of some other letter. Do not insert 
the letter r. 

Innocent, eloquent, society, swallow, accommodate, com- 
position, provide, tomatoes, mosquito, diagonal, professor, 
fellow, oyster, proposition, mountain, decoration, apolo- 
gize, chocolate, borrow, apoplexy, sorrow, sonorous, intro- 
duction, potatoes, piano, process, cow. 

VIII. Perhaps no vowel is more commonly mispro- 
nounced than u. Seldom should it be given the sound 
of oo as in the word boot. 

Blue, student, truth, tube, Tuesday, duke, gratitude, 
suit, stupid, produce, tutor, tune, dutiful, attitude, avenue, 
destitute, stimulate, rudiments, picture, educate, genuine, 
institute, speculate, juice, natural, occupy, durable, argu- 
ment, altitude, culinary, figure, cruel. 

IX. The vowel a represents a number of different 
sounds. Are you sure that you pronounce the following 
words correctly? 

Ask, half, gape, catch, canH, parent, haunt, laugh, 
chaste, launch, extra, calf, path, psalm, patent, calm, be- 
cause, father, vaunt, alternate, 

X. Th, ngth, sph, and similar combinations are diffi- 
cult for some tongues. Master the following: 



PRONUNCIATION 15 

Length, depths, Thursday, sphere, strength, thousand, 
drouth, diphthong, architecture, naphtha, twelfth, chasm, 
drought, eighth, trough, eleventh, thought, architect. 

XL Each word in this group presents some difficulty. 
When in doubt, do not guess; consult a dictionary. 

Amateur, juvenile, victuals, debris, bestial, viscount, 
fiance*, docile, deaf, epitome, cayenne, detour, suite, leisure, 
odious, courtesy, irrelevant, hundred, decrepit, column, 
again, sesame, sergeant, pantomime, forehead, tedious, 
chimney, coffee, clapboard, creek, enmity, immediate, 
representative, apron, spoon. 

XII. The following are selected from the preceding 
groups. Pronounce them slowly and with distinct 
enunciation. Go through the list again and again; 
master each word. 

Tuesday, February, Italian, American, pumpkin, quar- 
ter, psalm, governor, solemn, illustrate, strength, laboratory, 
character, stupid, Arctic, government, detour, fellow, 
several, often, rather, influence, discourse, forehead, Wales 
laugh, drowned, swallow, height, length, gentlemen, ridic- 
ulous, sentiment, willing, deaf, intellect, sword, superin- 
tendent, fiance, recess, engine, sphere, tract, catch, object, 
professor, avenue, saw, column, partridge, architect, inter- 
esting, decorous, debris, chimney, suite, twelfth, miserable, 
romance, difference, potatoes, pantomime, produce, creek, 
hundred, umbrella, genuine, subject, temperance, mis- 
chievous, address, express, athletics, recognize, patent, 
illustrate, mustache, gratitude, student, juvenile, speaking, 
gape, coffee. 

XIII. Make a list of words you have discovered, 
through your study of the preceding exercises, that you 
have been unconsciously mispronouncing. 



16 WORDS AND SENTENCES 

XIV. Make a list of words you hear commonly mis- 
pronounced by your associates. 

XV. Write, as if to a child, a fifteen-line paragraph 
explaining the dictionary's way of indicating the correct 
pronunciation of words. This is a difficult task; do it 
well. 



III.— WORD-BUILDING AND SPELLING 

Horse and shoe, when combined, form the com- 
pound horseshoe. Add the suffix ness to the adjective 
good and we have the noun goodness. Regain is but 
the word gain plus a prefix. In returnable, three ele- 
ments are discoverable, a simple word, a prefix, and a 
suffix; in ungcnilemanly there are four elements. Even 
a superficial examination of the dictionary reveals the 
fact that comparatively few words are simple; that 
there are scores of prefixes, scores of suffixes, by 
means of which our language multiplies. 

The words examined in the paragraph above are 
readily analyzed; a glance shows how they are put 
together. But analysis is not always so simple. 
Words adopted from a foreign language do not, as a 
rule, retain their original form; only the vital part of 
each — the root or the stem, as it is called — is retained. 
Jacere, for example, is a foreign word meaning to 
throw. Its root is ject, as seen in interjection. With- 
out some familiarity with foreign languages, it is not 
always easy to detect word-roots. Many prefixes 
too are from languages other than our own. Some 

17 



18 WORDS AND SENTENCES 

are so commonly employed that we recognize them 
readily enough and know what they mean; yet oc- 
casionally one is so changed in the process of joining 
it smoothly to a root that to determine where the pre- 
fix ends and the root begins is not a simple matter. 

So many words are of Latin derivation — our pon- 
derous dictionary would shrink at least one-third if 
they were all dropped from it — that some educators 
believe the best way to master English is to master 
Latin first. Whether this indirect method is best or 
not, it is for several reasons an exceedingly good one. 
Those who are unable or unwilling to adopt it should 
at least master the more commonly employed Latin 
prefixes. For frequently a prefix furnishes a hint of 
what the word it introduces means, and sometimes 
it throws the door wide open, revealing at once the 
entire secret. Familiarity with the Latin prefixes 
also helps one to spell correctly. A large proportion 
of words commonly misspelled are of Latin origin. 
The trouble lies in the joint, where the prefix is neatly 
attached to the root. If one knows the prefixes 
thoroughly and understands word-joinery, there is 
little danger of tripping; a moment's thought will 
tell what the spelling must be. 

Ab or abs signifies from. Norma is the Latin word 
for rule; hence the English word normal, meaning 
according to rule or natural. Abnormal, then, means 
away from the rule or unnatural. Abstract is made up 
of abs and the root of a Latin word meaning to draw; 
hence to abstract is to draw from. 



WORD-BUILDING AND SPELLING 19 



abduct 
absolute 



abhor 
abrupt 



abdicate 
absent 



abolition 
abstain 



Ante signifies before. This prefix is seen in ante- 
date and antecedent. Sometimes it changes to anti, 
as in anticipate. There is a Greek prefix anti mean- 
ing against. It is seen in antislavery and antidote. 
An antidote is something given to counteract or work 
against a poison or a disease. 

anterior anteroom anticipation antique 

antediluvian antiquity antiquary antechamber 

Circum signifies about or around. It is found in 
but few words and is easily recognized. 



circumference 
circumvent 



circumnavigate 
circumlocution 



circumspect 
circumscribe 



De signifies from or down. Caput is Latin for 
head; decapitate, then, means behead or take the head 
from the body. Deposit is made up of de meaning 
down and a Latin word signifying to place or to put. 



degrade 


deform 


debate 


deliberate 


detest 


deflect 


debar 


delirium 


deduce 


decrease 


demerit 


declivity 


decamp 


decay 


defect 


degrade 



Inter signifies between, together, or among, 
easily recognized and presents no difficulties. 



It is 



interval 
interweave 



interlude 
international 



interregnum 
interpose 



20 



WORDS AND SENTENCES 



interfere 


interrupt 


interview 


intersect 


interlace 


intermission 



intercollegiate 

intermediate 

interchange 

Non signifies not. It presents no difficulties. 

nonsense non-combatant nondescript 

nonconformity nonentity nonpareil 

noncommittal non-resident 

Per signifies through or by. 



perforate 


perpetual 


percent 


perusal 


perpetrate 


permeate 


persevere 


perennial 


persecute 


perspire 


permission 


perspective 



Post signifies behind or after. 

posterior postscript postgraduate posthumous 
postpone posterity postlude post-mortem 

Pre signifies before. Judicium is a Latin word 
meaning judgment. A prejudice, then, is a judg- 
ment formed without careful examination. Pre is 
a very useful prefix, appearing in a great many 
words. 



prelude 


preamble 


prefix 


prepaid 


preface 


preposition 


presage 


premature 


precede 


precaution 


precipitate 


preliminary 


predominate 


prehistoric 


premium 


predecessor 


precept 


premeditate 


precocious 


president 



Pro signifies forward, before, or instead of. Videre 
is the infinitive form of a Latin word meaning to see. 



WORD-BUILDING AND SPELLING 21 

To provide, then, is to look ahead or make ready for 
what is to come. A great many words contain this 
useful prefix. 

proceed prologue prostrate promise 

procession program promote professor 

protect protrude promenade proclaim 

project product prosecute pronoun 

Re signifies back or again, and appears in a multi- 
tude of words. 



rebate 


recollect 


retail 


reiterate 


recess 


reconcile 


reduce 


remember 


remunerate 


repeal 


resign 


reply 


retract 


revenge 


retreat 


reflect 


Se signifies 


apart. It 


appears in 


but few words. 


secede 


seclude 


secret 


secrete 


select 


separate 


seduce 


secretion 



Super signifies above. It presents no difficulties. 

superb superlative superficial 

superintend superstructure superstition 

superfluous supernumerary 

Trans or tran signifies across, beyond, or through. 

transfer trans-Atlantic transient transpose 
transplant translate transform transact 

transparent translucent transom transgression 



22 WORDS AND SENTENCES 

The fourteen prefixes considered thus far are sim- 
pler than the six to be examined next, in that they 
are unchangeable. Re remains re and se remains se, 
no matter to what root they may be joined. This is 
not true of the following : 

Ad signifies to. It is recognized at once in adhere 
and adjacent. In many words, however, ad changes 
to ab, af, ag, at, an, ap, ar, as, or at, before b, f, g, I, 
n, p, r, s, and t. That is, for the sake of ease in pro- 
nunciation the final letter of the prefix changes to 
the first letter of the stem. Words containing ad in 
a disguised form are misspelled frequently. The 
troublesome ones, it will be seen, contain the double 
consonant. It is almost safe, when in doubt, to 
double the consonant. 

abbreviate application admission affluence 

accent arrogant affection attempt 

affix assert accompany appearance 

alliteration attend attribute apparatus 

annihilate adapt arrive array 

Con signifies with or together. Other forms of this 
suffix are com, col, cor, and co. Col is found before 
stems beginning with I, cor before stems beginning 
with r, com before m, con before n. Com and col ap- 
pear before other letters too, but not in words one is 
inclined to misspell; so when in doubt, it is safe to 
double the consonant. Carefully note the spelling 
of the following. Observe, too, how strong the idea 
of with or together is in most of the words. 



WORD-BUILDING AND SPELLING 23 



convene 


connect 


combine 


commerce 


conference 


concrete 


compete 


corrupt 


conspire 


concord 


compare 


correspond 


continent 


complex 


command 


collide 


co-education 


cohere 


conspire 


collection 



Dis usually signifies apart, though sometimes it 
has the force of a negative. Dif and di, other forms 
of dis, are found in a few words. There is a tempta- 
tion to substitute diss for dis in disappear and all 
other words in which the root begins with a. The 
opposite tendency is seen when the root begins 
with s, as in dissatisfy. Most words introduced 
by dis are familiar; a moment's thought is all 
that is necessary to determine the root, and 
this once determined, the correct spelling becomes 
obvious. 



disability 


dissect 


dissolve 


discomfort 


disadvantage 


dissemble 


dissuade 


digress 


disapprove 


dissent 


discharge 


dilute 


disappoint 


dissimilar 


disengage 


difficulty 


disallow 


dissipate 


disjoin 


diffident 



Ex signifies out, off, or beyond. E and ef are other 
forms. Words introduced by ex present few diffi- 
culties; there is no temptation to double the final 
letter. E and ef are sometimes troublesome because 
the Latin stems they introduce are unfamiliar; or 
because we forget that ex changes to ef before a stem 



24 



WORDS AND SENTENCES 



beginning with /. Note with care the 


first ele 


words below : 






efface emigrant 


elapse 


explain 


effect emissary 


excavate 


explode 


effeminate enervate 


excellent 


export 


effervescent eloquent 


excursion 


express 


effort elocution 


exhaust 


extort 



In signifies in, into, or not, without. It is exceed- 
ingly common, and exceedingly troublesome to poor 
spellers, who forget, or do not know, that in changes 
to il, im, ir, before I, m, r. Study the following words 
faithfully, first noting the form of the prefix, then de- 
termining the significance of the prefix. 



illegible 


immaterial 


irrational 


infuse 


illiterate 


immediate 


irreducible 


innovation 


illiberal 


immense 


irregular 


inoculate 


illogical 


immigrant 


irreligious 


inquisitive 


illumine 


immoral 


irresolute 


inhale 


illustrate 


immunity 


irreverence 


inherit 



Sub signifies under. It changes to sue, suf, sug 
sum, sup, sur, before c, /, g, m, p, and r. Let the 
poor speller remember this double consonant arrange- 
ment; it will save him many slips. 

success surreptitious subcontract suppress 

suffix summary subscribe suppose 

suggest support subdivide suburb 

suffer subconscious subjugate suffice 



WORD-BUILDING AND SPELLING 25 

In the following table the prefixes are, for con- 
venient reference, arranged alphabetically. 



Ab (abs) 




signifies from. 


Ad (ab, af, ag, al, 


an, 






ap, ar, as, at) 




it 


to. 


Ante 




a 


before. 


Circum 




ft 


about, around. 


Con (co, col, com, 


cor) 


It 


with or together. 


De 




a 


from or down. 


Dis (di, dif) 




a 


apart or not. 


Ex 




it 


out, off, or beyond. 


In (il, im, ir) 




a 


in, into, or not, with- 
out. 


Inter 




a 


between, together, or 
among. 


Non 




a 


not. 


Per 




a 


through or by. 


Post 




it 


behind or after. 


Pre 




a 


before. 


Pro 




a 


forward, before, or in- 
stead of. 


Re 




a 


back or again. 


Se 




a 


apart. 


Sub (sue, suf, sug, 


sum, 






sup, sur) 




it 


under. 


Super 




a 


above. 


Trans (tran) 




tt 


across, beyond, or 
through. 



26 WORDS AND SENTENCES 

Suffixes, more numerous than prefixes, and fully 
as useful, appear in so many of our commonest words 
that their significance is learned almost unconsciously. 
It will not do to pass them by, however, without 
noting certain rules which tell how suffixes are joined 
to stems. These rules should be learned. 

Final silent e is kept before an added syllable be- 
ginning with a consonant, and dropped before a suffix 
beginning with a vowel ; but words ending in ce or 
ge retain the e before a and o. Words ending in ie 
drop the e and change the i to y before ing. 

Love + ly makes lovely, love + able makes lovable. 
Change + able makes changeable and service-^ able 
makes serviceable; otherwise there would be a 
temptation to give g and c the hard sound as in rang 
and cup. Tiering makes tying. The e is dropped, 
since it is final silent e, and i changes to y to prevent 
the doubling of i. Singeing and dyeing retain the e 
to distinguish them from singing and dying. Truly, 
duly, shoeing, hoeing, toeing, awful, argument, and 
judgment are other exceptions to the rule. 

hoping advertisement subduing amazement 

excitement infringement advantageous traceable 

salable tying engagement blamable 

peaceable tasty coming conceivable 

movable spongy dining dying 

Words ending in a single consonant preceded by a 
single vowel double the consonant before an added 
syllable beginning with a vowel, if the word formed 



WORD-BUILDING AND SPELLING 27 

is to be accented on the syllable preceding the suffix ; 
otherwise the consonant is not doubled. 

This rule, like the preceding one, is to prevent mis- 
pronunciation. Hop + ing makes hopping. If the 
consonant were not doubled, we should have no way 
of distinguishing it from hoping, a very different 
word. 



goddess 


deference 


occurrence 


usually 


literally 


baggage 


redden 


permitting 


deferred 


slipped 


planned 


nutting 


preference 


beginning 


beginner 


gripping 


preferring 


stopped 


swimming 


compelling 



When preceded by a consonant, final y is generally 
changed to / before an added syllable not beginning 
with /; otherwise it remains unchanged. 

Holy + day makes holiday, and plenty + Jul makes 
plentiful) but joy + ful makes joyful, and toy+ing 
makes toying. There are a few exceptions to the 
rule, among them being shy, sly, and dry, which re- 
tain the y before ness and ly; but these we are not 
apt to misspell. 

pitiful volleying modifying compliance 

denying modifier defiance joyous 



EXERCISES 

I. Without referring to the table, explain the signifi- 
cance of each of the following: ab, ad, ante, circum, con, 
de, dis, ex, in, inter. 



28 WORDS AND SENTENCES 

II. Explain the significance of each of the following: 
non, per, post, pre, pro, re, se, sub, super, trans. 

III. Without referring to any book, write down all 
the w T ords you can think of which contain the prefix ab 
in any of its forms. Do the same with each of the 
twenty prefixes. (This may be made a class contest.) 

IV. What prefixes appear in the following words? 
Give the original form of each. Apparel, commence, 
illegible, suppress, attribute, alliteration, aggregate, supply, 
immigrant, communicate, irreligious, illiterate, suffix. 

V. In which of the following words has the prefix the 
force of in or into, and in which has it the force of not or 
urithout? Illogical, illuminate, imbibe, impediment, ir- 
regular, immigrant, involuntary, insomnia, inspiration, 
inoculate, insane, inquisitive, independent, infamy, in- 
debted, incendiary. 

VI. Open the dictionary at random and note how 
many words containing Latin prefixes there are on a 
single page. Do the same with a column from the edi- 
torial page of any newspaper. Do the same with a page 
from a magazine. 

VII. Ceive and cept are roots from a Latin word mean- 
ing to take. Form as many words as you can by adding 
prefixes and suffixes. 

VIII. Cede, ceed, and cess are roots meaning to go or 
to yield. Form from these roots as many words as you 
can. 

IX. In the same manner form words from the roots 
due and duct, which are from a Latin word meaning to 
lead. 

X. Feet is from a Latin word meaning to do or to make. 
Form words from it. 



WORD-BUILDING AND SPELLING 29 

XL Ject is from a Latin word meaning to throw. 
Form words from it. 

XII. Junct is from a Latin word meaning to join. 
Form words from it. 

XIII. Mit and miss are roots meaning to send. Form 
words from them. 

XIV. Pon and posit are roots meaning to place. Form 
words from them. 

XV. Tract means to draw. Form words from it. 

XVI. State the rule for adding syllables to words 
ending in silent e. 

XVII. State the rule for adding syllables to words 
ending in a single consonant preceded by a single vowel. 

XVIII. State the rule for adding syllables to words 
ending in y. 

XIX. Give the rule governing each of the words in 
the list below. 

dying goddess subduing deference 

pitiful serviceable advantageous purity 

preference shammed lying hungriest 

truly hoeing shying judgment 

XX. Study with great care the spelling of the follow- 
ing words, paying particular attention to prefixes. 
With what letter does the stem of each word begin? 



dissect 


opponent 


appoint 


immediately 


effervescent 


disappear 


aggregate 


affirm 


emergency 


misspell 


correspondent 


addict 


emigrant 


immense 


access 


accidentally 


accuracy 


disagree 


describe 


ascertain 


disobedience 


adjacent 


apparatus 


dissimilar 


irregular 


suppress 


effeminate 


interrupt 



30 



WORDS AND SENTENCES 



XXI. The following are troublesome because of their 
suffixes, in each case there being a temptation to use a 
wrong ending. Master them. 

affirmative visible forcible dictionary 

spherical bachelor connotative audible 

contemptible conservative coincidence identical 

experience popular comparatively obedience 

burglar infinite spontaneous purity 

imperative penitentiary independence resistance 

participle secretary correspondent conspirator 

XXII. Words containing the diphthongs ei and ie are 
troublesome until one learns that when the diphthong 
has the sound of long e, / comes first except when 
the diphthong is preceded by c. Weird, seize, neither, 
and leisure are important exceptions. With this rule 
in mind, study the following words: 



yield 


niece 


receive 


conceive 


shrieve 


perceive 


fiend 


pierce 


receipt 


deceit 


shriek 


wield 


relieve 


besiege 


achieve 


apiece 



XXIII. The following are commonly misspelled be- 
cause commonly mispronounced. Are you sure that 
you are accustomed to pronounce them correctly? 



embroidery 


recognize 


ransacking 


artistically 


tournament 


sophomore 


athletics 


cemetery 


quarter 


temperament 


cartridge 


farthest 


intellect 


laboratory 


lightning 


literally 


strategy 


tragedy 


tremendous 


accidentally 



XXIV. The following, frequently misspelled, are very 
simple when analyzed. Often a long word is but a 



WORD-BUILDING AND SPELLING 31 



short, familiar word to which prefix and suffix have 
been added. A moment's thought should clear away 
all difficulty. 

recollect preparation imagination incidentally 

agreeableness recommend undoubtedly handsome 

narrative criticism ridgepole condescend 

sensibility miraculous graphically analysis 

XXV. Here are groups of words arranged in pairs. 
Put each pair into a sentence or two so constructed as 
to show without doubt that you know what each word 
means. 



admission 
admittance 


affect 
effect 


allusion 
illusion 


ascent 
assent 


altar 
alter 


bare 
bear 


berth 
birth 


brake 
break 


breath 
breathe 


bridal 
bridle 


calendar 
calender 


canon 
cannon 


canvas 
canvass 


capital 
capitol 


ceiling 
sealing 


cereal 
serial 


cession 
session 


chandelier 
chanticleer 


cite 
site 


clothes 
cloths 


coarser 
courser 


colonel 
kernel 


complement 
compliment 


conservatory 
observatory 


council 
counsel 


creak 
creek 


currant 
current 


deceased 
diseased 


desert 
dessert 


dual 
duel 


dyeing 
dying 


eligible 
legible 



32 



WORDS AND SENTENCES 



emerge 
immerge 


emigrant 
immigrant 


fain 
feign 


faint 
feint 


feat 
fete 


formally 
formerly 


fort 
forte 


forth 
fourth 


gait 
gate 


gilt 
guilt 


grease 
Greece 


hail 
hale 


heal 
heel 


hew 
hue 


humerus 
humorous 


lead 
led 


leaf 
lief 


lightening 
lightning 


lose 
loose 


mantel 
mantle 


meat 
mete 


medal 
meddle 


miner 
minor 


partition 
petition 


peace 
piece 


peal 
peel 


pedal 
peddle 


persecute 
prosecute 


pillar 
pillow 


prescribe 
proscribe 


principal 
principle 


prodigy 
progeny 


prophecy 
prophesy 


real 
reel 


respectfully 
respectively 


ring 
wring 


role 
roll 


sewer 
sower 


shear 
sheer 


sleight 
slight 


soar 
sore 


stake 
steak 


stationary 
stationery 


statue 
statute 


stile 
style 


tail 
tale 


team 
teem 


waist 
waste 



WORD-BUILDING AND SPELLING 33 

XXVI. Here is a final list of words, some of which we 
have already examined, calling for careful study. Ana- 
lyze them syllable by syllable. Master them once for 
all. 



pronunciation 


belligerent 


prejudice 


apparent 


divine 


among 


imitate 


arriving 


salary 


around 


muscle 


dissolve 


control 


brilliant 


arrange 


together 


speech 


proceed 


altogether 


equip 


mysterious 


beseech 


business 


whether 


vegetable 


surprise 


gas 


rummage 


galloped 


separate 


variegated 


melancholy 


professor 


similar 


privilege 


announce 


artillery 


divide 


appetite 


rhythm 


catarrh 


color 


sleeve 


malady 


difficult 


across 


caterpillar 


excel 


sovereign 


embarrass 


restaurant 


essential 


acquisition 


pamphlet 


precede 


villain 


accord 


expel 


terrestrial 


allow 


hospital 


undoubtedly 


agreeable 


grammar 


writer 


acquaintance 


luscious 


twelfth 


burglary 


callous 


syllable 


until 


exaggerate 


abolish 


parliament 


drowned 


nymph 


college 


soliloquy 


accommodate 


consonant 



34 



WORDS AND SENTENCES 



persevere 


committee 


possess 


academy 


sympathy 


finally 


career 


repetition 


artificial 


reverend 


warrior 


annual 


agree 


annex 


messenger 


paradise 


opportunity 


career 


odor 


drudgery 


resurrect 


duchess 


amateur 


achieve 


noticeable 


assassin 


graphically 


pursue 


literary 


barbarous 


commencement 


millionaire 


shepherd 


negotiate 


remedy 


accustomed 


marriage 


bereave 


sergeant 


accordingly 


collapse 


fascinate 


milliner 


feminine 


discourtesy 


gasoline 


cylinder 


disapprove 


image 


physical 


hypocrisy 


Italy 


discipline 


trespass 


incandescent 


genius 


appeal 


fiery 


implement 


haggard 


describe 


crystal 


enemy 


necessity 


kerosene 


complexion 


crescent 


different 


dissipate 


approach 


coincide 


unanimous 


phase 


etiquette 


all right 



PART II 

A BRIEF REVIEW OF ENGLISH 
GRAMMAR 

Words are but feeble things except when properly 
arranged in groups and set to work. They resemble 
in this respect the parts of a machine, a typewriter 
for instance, which must be assembled with care, 
each part properly fitted in its place, before the 
machine becomes serviceable. The dictionary, which 
we may call first of the great law-books of lan- 
guage, considers words singly, telling what each one 
means, how it should be spelled, how pronounced. 
Grammar, correctly speaking, includes all, or nearly 
all, that the average dictionary contains. As the 
term is commonly employed, however, the special 
province of grammar is to record what is good usage 
among language-respecting people as regards words 
when grouped for service — what forms they take 
and how they are arranged. It may well be called 
the second great law-book. The following review 
is much too brief to be complete. It touches but 
lightly upon many things and passes by others 

35 



36 WORDS AND SENTENCES 

altogether, the purpose being merely to freshen the 
memory in regard to such matters as are of real 
importance to one who is trying to learn to speak 
and write correctly. 

The simplest complete word-group, it will be re- 
called, is the sentence, with its two vital parts, sub- 
ject and predicate. The former names that concern- 
ing which the sentence tells something; the latter is 
the part which does the telling. There are four kinds 
of sentences: the declarative, used in making an 
assertion; the interrogative, used in asking a ques- 
tion; the imperative, used in entreating, command- 
ing, and in giving directions; the exclamatory, used 
in expressing deep feeling. 

Declarative : The tide has turned. 

Interrogative: Has the tide turned? 

Imperative : Seek the truth . 

Exclamatory : How gallantly they ride ! 

Another set of names is used to indicate the struc- 
ture of sentences. If made up of one subject and 
one predicate, a sentence is called simple. If made 
up of two or more independent clauses, it is called 
compound. A sentence made up of one independent 
clause and one or more dependent clauses is called 
complex. Compound-complex is a name applied to 
a sentence made up of independent clauses one or 
more of which are complex. By clause, as used in 
the above definitions, is meant a group of words con- 
taining a subject and a predicate and forming part 
of a sentence. It differs from a phrase, which is a 



REVIEW OF ENGLISH GRAMMAR 37 



group of related words that does not contain subject 
and predicate. It resembles a phrase in that it is 
often used as if it were a single word. 

Phrase : in the morning 

Clause : where I had determined to spend the night 

Simple sentence: We reached the village. 

Compound sentence: The stars fade and dawn 
appears. 

Complex sentence : In the evening we reached the 
village where I had determined to spend the night. 

Compound-complex sentence: We discovered that 
we had forgotten the packet and Pierre was sent for 
it. 

Thus we have the following display : 



Purpose 



Sentences ■ 



Structure 



Declarative making an assertion 
Interrogative asking a question 
Imperative commanding, directing, 

or entreating 
. Exclamatory expressing deep feeling 

' Simple having but one subject 

and one predicate 

Compound made up of two or more 
independent clauses 

Complex containing one or more 

dependent clauses 

There are eight kinds of words: nouns, pronouns, 
verbs, adjectives, adverbs, prepositions, conjunc- 
tions, and interjections. It should be remembered, 
however, that just as upon occasion a lawyer may 
become a lecturer, or a schoolboy a fisherman, so a 
given word may be now one "part of speech", now r 



38 WORDS AND SENTENCES 

another. What a word is doing determines what it 
should be called. If used to name something, it is a 
noun. If used as a substitute for a noun, it is a pro- 
noun. Nouns and pronouns, indeed all words or 
word-groups used like nouns, are called substantives. 
A verb is a word or phrase used to assert something 
concerning that which a substantive names or desig- 
nates. Adjectives are words used to modify the 
meaning of substantives, and adverbs are words used 
to modify the meaning of verbs, adjectives, or other 
adverbs. Adjectives and adverbs, and all words or 
word-groups used like adjectives or adverbs, are 
called modifiers. Prepositions connect substantives 
with other words and show how they are related; 
conjunctions join words, phrases, or clauses. Prepo- 
sitions and conjunctions, and other parts of speech 
when used like them, are called connectives. An in- 
terjection is a word — a cry or an exclamation — used 
to express deep feeling. These definitions are not in 
every instance complete; but they serve sufficiently 
well to point out in a general way the service per- 
formed by each part of speech. 

Noun : The day is clone. 

Pronoun: They run. 

Verb : The birds have flown. 

Adjective: A soft answer turneth away wrath. 

Adverb : The sentinel walked softly. 

Preposition : Two of the ships were lost. 

Conjunction: Come and trip it as ye go. 

Interjection: Alas! 



REVIEW OF ENGLISH GRAMMAR 39 



Thus we have the following display : 



Parts of 
Speech 



Nouns words used as names 

Pronouns words used as substitutes for nouns 

Verbs words used in making assertions 

Adjectives words used to modify substantives 
Adverbs words used to modify verbs, adjec- 

tives, adverbs 
Prepositions words used to connect substantives 
with other words and show how 
they are related 
Conjunctions words used to connect words, phrases, 

clauses 
Interjections cries and exclamations used to ex- 
press deep feeling 



Studying this table for a moment, one cannot fail 
to see that the various parts of speech enjoy but little 
independence; they must work together just as the 
individuals of a community must; all are needed, 
none is self-sufficient. Nouns are helpless without 
verbs, and verbs helpless without nouns. Pronouns, 
great time-savers that enable us to take short cuts, 
and to push ahead without too often retracing steps, 
are meaningless when by themselves. Adjectives 
and adverbs must have something to cling to, other 
words to work for; and connectives, when by them- 
selves, are like mortar without bricks, bridges with- 
out banks to join, or signboards where there are no 
cross-ways. Interjections, of all the parts of speech, 
enjoy a degree of lonely independence; yet a page of 
interjections and nothing else would be unintelligible. 
The Oh! Alas! or Mercy! means nothing until some 



40 WORDS AND SENTENCES 

complete sentence explains what has produced the 
emotion represented by the exclamation. 

In the second place it may be noted that though no 
word is wholly independent, the eight parts of speech 
are of different value or rank; which suggests again 
a parallel between words and individuals. The noun 
is easily the most important, in numbers as well as 
in service. If we could have but this one part of 
speech we should manage somehow, though lamely, 
without the other seven. Next comes the verb, 
without which there could be no complete sentence. 
A workaday world might get along fairly well with 
these two parts of speech alone. Adjectives and 
adverbs are plainly inferior to nouns and verbs, and 
the connectives are of a still lower order; yet vigor, 
precision, and beauty of expression depend so largely 
on a command of these minor groups of words that 
they are entitled to our full respect and merit close 
study. The relative importance of each part of 
speech may be tested in an interesting way by taking 
a paragraph from any book and removing from it 
in turn the nouns, the pronouns, and so on. 

Finally comes the thought that though there is no 
such thing as independence among words, and though 
some parts of speech may be considered of higher 
rank than others, nevertheless each term in the lan- 
guage enjoys a kind of supremacy, each is a specialist 
doing some one thing better than it can be done by 
any other. 

Interjections and prepositions do not change in 



REVIEW OF ENGLISH GRAMMAR 41 

form, nor can they be subdivided into classes or 
varieties according to the service they perform. 
Other parts of speech may be subdivided, and with 
the exception of the conjunction they may be " in- 
flected" more or less; that is, they may be bent into 
this or that shape to express shades of meaning and 
to show the relationship of word to word, much as 
some machines may be " adjusted" to perform 
different kinds of work. For example, boys is an 
inflected form of boy, and worked an inflected form of 
work. Centuries ago, our language was much more 
highly inflected than it is to-day. Many forms have 
dropped out of use, and others are gradually dis- 
appearing. Yet the shades of meaning and the re- 
lationships they once expressed still remain, and 
often the names of these are retained even though 
the inflected forms are gone. We will now T take up 
each part of speech separately, considering its sub- 
divisions, its inflections, and the service it performs. 

Kinds common, proper 



Nouns 



C number: singular, plural 
Forms -j gender: masculine, feminine, neuter 

I case: nominative, possessive, objective 



- (1) subject of verb, (2) object of verb, (3) 
indirect object of verb, (4) object of prep- 
osition, (5) denoting possession, (6) ap- 
How used -I positive to a substantive, (7) predicate 
nominative, (8) nominative absolute, (9) 
nominative by address, (10) adverbial 
objective 

A common noun is a name which may be applied 
to any one of an entire class of things; a proper noun 



42 WORDS AND SENTENCES 

designates a particular one, distinguishing it from 
others of the same class. Illiterate people some- 
times fail to begin the proper noun with a capital, 
and frequently begin with a capital a word, especially 
the name of a plant or an animal, with which they are 
not familiar. Dog is a common noun; so too is 
ichthyosaurus, notwithstanding the fact that it has 
many syllables and sounds strange to the ear. 

The regular way of forming the plural is by adding 
s or es to the singular, observation rather than hard 
and fast rules teaching which ending is correct in a 
given case. It is well to remember, however, that 
nouns ending in y preceded by a consonant change 
the y to i and add es; that a few, though not all, 
words ending in fe change the / to v and add s; and 
that a few, though not all, ending in o preceded by a 
consonant add es. Foreign words are troublesome 
in that many of them have plural endings not found 
in our language. The oddest rule is that which bids 
us indicate the plural of figures, letters, and signs by 
adding 's. (See exercise VI on page 72.) 



pony 
knife 
vertebra 


ponies 
knives 
vertebrse 


valley 
potato 
6 


valleys 
potatoes 
6's 


t 


t's 


+ 


+ 's 



Few nouns have separate forms to indicate differ- 
ence in gender; but that which a word names may 
have gender, so we may speak of nouns as masculine, 
feminine, and neuter. It is somewhat the same with 
case as it is with gender. One form now suffices for 



REVIEW OF ENGLISH GRAMMAR 43 

both nominative and objective; the only inflection 
is that which denotes what is loosely called posses- 
sion. The regular way of forming the possessive is 
by adding 's to the singular and to all plurals not 
ending in s. Plurals ending in s add the apostrophe 
only. When a noun of more than one syllable ends 
in an s or z sound, some writers prefer to indicate the 
singular possessive by adding simply the apostrophe ; 
others, and they are to be commended, follow the 
regular rule. Ulysses's voyages, Xerxes's exercises, 
and similar phrases have an unpleasant sound. Per- 
haps the sanest way is to avoid such ugly combina- 
tions by writing the voyages of Ulysses and the exer- 
cises of Xerxes. If two or more nouns joined by and 
show joint possession, as in the sentence This is John 
and Henry's boat, the sign of possession is needed 
with the last noun only; but we write correctly 
This is either John's or Henry's, and This is neither 
John's nor Henry's. (See exercise VII on page 72.) 

man's mens' Dickens's masterpiece 

lady's ladies' The deeds of Themistocles 

Brown and Green's harness shop (joint possession) 

Goldsmith's and Burns's poems (separate posses- 
sion) 

Is this Monday's or Tuesday's Tribune? 

It is neither Monday's nor Tuesday's. 

The ways in which nouns are used will be better 
understood later on when the other parts of speech 
have been examined. Since this is a review of 
grammar, the following examples should not prove 



44 



WORDS AND SENTENCES 



wholly unintelligible. The numbers correspond to 

those found in the table on page 41. 

1. Fire burns. 2. Obey the law. 3. They 
offered Ccesar a crown. 4. He lives in Savannah. 
5. Great Expectations is the title of one of 
Dickens's best novels. 6. We followed the Ohio 
River, a branch of the Mississippi. 7. This is my 
native land. 8. The day being clear, we had an 
extended view. 9. In thee, Lord, do I put 
my trust. 10. Good-bye, proud world, I'm going 
home, 

'Personal: I, you, thou, he, she, it; myself, 

yourself, etc. 
Relative or Conjunctive: who, which, what, 
that; whoever, whosoever, etc. 
Kinds • Demonstrative: this, that 

Interrogative: who, which, what, whether 

Indefinite or Adjective: each, either, neither, 

some, any, many, few, all, both, aught, 

naught, one, some one, any one, every one, 

no one, such other, each other, one another 



Pronouns 



Forms 



Person: first, second, third 
Number: singular, plural 
Gender: masculine, feminine, neuter 
. Case: nominative, possessive, objective 



How used: (1) To take the place of the noun, serving 
in all save the last of the ten 
ways mentioned in connection with 
nouns; (2) to take the place of a 
noun and at the same time serve 
as a connective (relative pronouns 
only) 

Personal pronouns, so called because some always 
represent the " first" person or the one speaking, 



REVIEW OF ENGLISH GRAMMAR 45 

others the " second" person or the one spoken to, 
and others the " third" person or the person or thing 
spoken of, are so commonly misused that it seems 
best to give their inflections in full. 

Sing. Plu. Sing. Plu. 

Nom. I we you you 

Pos. my or mine our or ours you or yours your or yours 

Obj. me us you you 



Nom. thou ye he she it they 

Pos. thy or thine your or yours his her its their or theirs 

(or hers) 
Obj. thee you him her it them 

Singular 

Nom. myself thyself or yourself himself herself itself 
Pos. — — — — — — 

Obj. myself thyself or yourself himself herself itself 

Plural 



Nom. ourselves yourselves themselves 

Pos. — — — 

Obj. ourselves yourselves themselves 

Notice that there are no such forms as ourn, youer, 
yourn, hisn, hern, theirn, theirselves, itsself, and that 
in no form is the apostrophe used. You're, a con- 
tracted form of you are, is often confused with your. 
The relative pronouns are so called because they 
"relate" or refer to substantives. Since at the same 
time they introduce clauses, thus serving as con- 
nectives, they are also called conjunctive pronouns. 
Of all the conjunctives, who alone is inflected. 

Sing. Plu. 

Nom. who who 

Pos. whose whose 

Obj . whom whom 



46 WORDS AND SENTENCES 

Notice that there is no such form as whoes or whos. 
Who's is a contracted form of who is. 

The interrogatives, so called because used in ask- 
ing questions, are not inflected, with the exception 
of who, which differs in no respect from the relative 
who. 

The demonstratives this and that, with their plural 
forms these and those, direct attention to persons or 
things, pointing them out. Be careful not to use 
the personal pronoun as if it were a demonstrative. 
Look at them boys should be Look at those hoys. Re- 
member too that these and those are plural forms, 
while sort and kind are singular. These kind, those 
sort, and similar vulgarisms are very common. 

The indefinites, so called because they do not 
definitely represent particular persons or things, are 
a low order of pronoun, more often used as adjec- 
tives. Indeed, many pronouns do double duty, 
serving now as pronouns, now as adjectives; and we 
have seen that relative pronouns serve as conjunc- 
tions. This leads to confusion, which disappears 
only when we apply to a word in a given sentence the 
name which best describes the service it performs in 
that sentence. 

In the first group of sentences given below, the pro- 
nouns are used like nouns, serving as subject, object, 
etc., the numbers corresponding to those in the 
noun table. Notice that the pronoun is not used as 
an adverbial objective. In the second group, the 
pronouns take the place of nouns and at the same 
time serve as connectives. 



REVIEW OF ENGLISH GRAMMAR 47 



1. This is the forest primeval. 2. Take it, if 
you wish. 3. Please give him my cane. 4. May 
we go with him? 5. My courage weakens, and 
so, I suspect, does yours. 6. A few fortunate 
ones, those who had clear records in deportment, 
were permitted to go. 7. This is he. 8. This 
having been attended to, we retired for the 
night. 9. Go to the ant, thou sluggard. 

1. Let him who standeth take heed lest he fall. 
2. This is the malt that lay in the house that Jack 
built. 









' articles: a, an, the 






numerals: one, two, first, sec- 






ond, etc. 






r limiting 


pronominals: my, thy, his, her, 
its; this, that; which, what; 
each, every, either, neither, 




■ Kinds ■ 




some, any, many, few, all, 
both, other 


Adjec- 
tives ' 




descriptive 


f common 
l proper 




Forms: positive, coi 


uparative, superlative 




. How us 


ed : To moc 


iify substantives attributively, 



appositively, and predicatively 

Adjectives present few difficulties, except as they 
change to indicate degrees of comparison. In some 
cases degree is indicated by an entire change of 
word, as in good, better, best ; in others -er and -est are 
added to the positive form, as in sweet, sweeter, sweet- 
est) and in still others the comparative and the super- 
lative are indicated by placing more and most or less 



48 WORDS AND SENTENCES 

and least before the adjective. No rule covers all 
cases; what is right must be learned through obser- 
vation. Uneducated people sometimes forget that a 
proper adjective — that is, an adjective derived from 
a proper noun, as Roman derived from the proper 
noun Rome — should begin with a capital. The dis- 
tinction between a pronoun and a pronominal adjec- 
tive is not troublesome if we remember that the 
adjective always modifies a substantive. 

Pronoun : This is my book. 

Adjective: This book belongs to me. 

The three ways in which an adjective may be used 
— perhaps we should say four ways, since an adjec- 
tive is sometimes used as a noun — are here illustrated. 
1. The green fields invite us. 2. The crowd, 
heedless, rushed into danger. 3. The fields are 
green. 4. The wicked shall perish. 



Verbs 



f 1 . Transitive, intransitive 
in s \ 2. Strong conjugation, weak conjugation 

Voice: active, passive 

Mood: indicative, subjunctive, potential, im- 
perative 

Forms \ Tense: present, past, future, perfect, past per- 
fect, future perfect 
Person: first, second, third 
Number: singular, plural 
.Verbals: infinitives, participles 

. How used: (1) To form the essential part of the predi- 
cate; (2) to serve as a substantive (in- 
finitive); (3) to serve as an adjective 
(participle) 



REVIEW OF ENGLISH GRAMMAR 49 

The verb is a difficult part of speech to master. 
Very few — perhaps it is safe to say not more than 
one in a hundred — ever do master it. Grammarians 
cannot agree perfectly on all points relating to it, and 
they differ widely in regard to the names which should 
be applied to its various forms and relations. We 
shall try, without going too deeply into matters, to 
get hold of such essentials as are needed in order to 
talk about verbs intelligibly and use them with a 
reasonable degree of correctness. 

A verb is used transitively when it requires an ob- 
ject to complete its meaning; that is, when it requires 
a substantive to " receive its action", as in the sen- 
tence Jack built a house. A verb is used intransi- 
tively when it does not require an object, as in the 
sentence The sun shines. Some verbs are always 
used intransitively, others may be used either way. 
(See exercise XIII on page 78.) 

Verbs are said to be of the strong or the weak con- 
jugation according to the way they are inflected. 
Weak verbs regularly add d or ed to the root to form 
the past tense and the past participle. Strong verbs 
regularly change the vowel of the root, either in the 
past tense or in the past participle or in both, and 
sometimes add n or en to form the past parti- 
ciple. 

Weak conjugation : work, worked, worked. 
Strong conjugation : speak, spoke, spoken. 

Many verbs, both strong and weak, are inflected 
more or less irregularly, and some irregularities are 



50 WORDS AND SENTENCES 

so misleading that it is often difficult to tell what 
conjugation a verb belongs to even though its prin- 
cipal parts, as the present, past, and past participle 
forms are called, are familiar to us. It is a comfort 
to reflect that knowing the principal parts of a verb 
is of more importance than being able to tell to what 
conjugation it belongs. (See exercise X on page 76.) 
Perhaps the best way to get at the many difficulties 
presented by voice, mood, and tense will be to display 
a complete verb. Pronouns will be used for the pur- 
pose of showing the various forms called for by sub- 
jects in the first, second, and third person, singular 
and plural; for a verb " agrees" with its subject in 
person and number. It should be remembered that 
the pronoun is not a part of the verb. 







ACTIVE VOICE 








INDICATIVE MOOD 




Simple Form 


Emphatic Form 


Progressive Form 






PRESENT 




I love 




I do love 


I am loving 


you love or 


thou 


you do love or thou 


you are loving or 


lovest * 




dost love 


thou art loving 


he loves 




he does love or he 
doth love 


he is loving 


we love 




we do love 


we are loving 


you love 




you do love 


you are loving 


they love 




they do love 


they are loving 



■* The older forms for the second person are given in the 
present and past tenses only, though they are found in other 
tenses as well. 



REVIEW OF ENGLISH GRAMMAR 51 



I loved 

you loved or thou 

lovedst 
he loved 
we loved 
you loved 
they loved 

I shall love 
you will love 
he will love 
we shall love 
you will love 
they will love 

I will love 
you shall love 
he shall love 
we will love 
you shall love 
they shall love 

I have loved 
you have loved 
he has loved 
we have loved 
you have loved 
they have loved 

I had loved 
you had loved 
he had loved 
we had loved 
you had loved 
they had loved 



PAST 

I did love 
you did love or 

thou didst love 
he did love 
we did love 
you did love 
they did love 

SIMPLE FUTURE 



I was loving 
you were loving or 
thou wast loving 
he was loving 
we were loving 
you were loving 
they were loving 

I shall be loving 
you will be loving 
he will be loving 
we shall be loving 
you will be loving 
they will be loving 

VOLITIONAL FUTURE 

I will be loving 
you shall be loving 
he shall be loving^ 
we will be loving 
you shall be loving 
they shall be loving 



PERFECT 



PAST PERFECT 



I have been loving 
you have been loving 
he has been loving 
we have been loving 
you have been loving 
they have been loving 

I had been loving 
you had been loving 
he had been loving 
we had been loving 
you had been loving 
they had been loving 



52 WORDS AND SENTENCES 

FUTURE PERFECT 

I shall have loved I shall have been loving 

you will have loved you will have been loving 

he will have loved he will have been loving 

we shall have loved we shall have been loving 

you will have loved you will have been loving 

they will have loved they will have been loving 

SUBJUNCTIVE MOOD 
Simple Form Emphatic Form Progressive Form 

PRESENT 

(if) I, you, he love (if) I, you, he do love (if) I, you, he be 

loving 
(if) we, you, they (if) we, you, they do (if) we, you, they be 
love love loving 

PAST 

(if) I, you, he loved (if) I, you, he, did (if) I, you, he were 

love loving 

(if) we, you, they (if) we, you, they (if) we, you, they 

loved did love were loving 

POTENTIAL MOOD 
Simple Form Progressive Form 

PRESENT 

I, you, he may * love I, you, he may be loving 

we, you, they may love we, you, they may be loving 

PAST 

I, you, he might f love I, you, he might be loving 

we, you, they might love we, you, they might be loving 

PERFECT 

I, you, he may * have loved I, you, he may have been loving 
we, you, they may have loved we, you, they may have been 

loving 

PAST PERFECT 

I, you, he might f have loved I, you, he might have been lov- 
ing 
we, you, they might have loved we, you, they might have been 

loving 
* Can and must are other potential auxiliaries, 
•j- Could, would, and should are other auxiliaries. 



REVIEW OF ENGLISH GRAMMAR 53 

IMPERATIVE MOOD 
PRESENT 

love do love be loving 

INFINITIVES 
PRESENT 

to love, loving to be loving 

PERFECT 

to have loved, having loved to have been loving 

PARTICIPLES 
PRESENT 

loving 

PERFECT 

having loved having been loving 



Simple Form 

I am loved 
you are loved 
he is loved 
we are loved 
you are loved 
they are loved 

I was loved 
you were loved 
he was loved 
we were loved 
you were loved 
they were loved 

I shall be loved 
I will be loved 



PASSIVE VOICE 

INDICATIVE MOOD 

Progressive Form 
PRESENT 

I am being loved 
you are being loved 
he is being loved 
we are being loved 
you are being loved 
they are being loved 

PAST 

I was being loved 
you were being loved 
he was being loved 
we were being loved 
you were being loved 
they were being loved 

SIMPLE FUTURE 
VOLITIONAL FUTURE 



54 WORDS AND SENTENCES 

PERFECT 

I have been loved 

PAST PERFECT 

I had been loved 

FUTURE PERFECT 

I shall have been loved 

SUBJUNCTIVE MOOD 

PRESENT 

(if) I be loved 

PAST 

(if) I were loved (if) I were being loved 

POTENTIAL MOOD 
PRESENT 



I may be loved 

I might be loved 

I may have been loved 



PAST 

PERFECT 

PAST PERFECT 



I might have been loved 

IMPERATIVE MOOD 

PRESENT 

be loved 

INFINITIES 

PRESENT 

to be loved, being loved 

PERFECT 

to have been loved, having been loved 

PARTICIPLES 
PRESENT 
being loved 

PAST 

loved 

PERFECT 

having been loved 



REVIEW OF ENGLISH GRAMMAR 55 

As we study this display, we note first of all that 
though the verb has a few inflections — loves, loved, 
loving — its conjugation is made up largely of phrases 
in which am, have, do, shall, will, may, etc., appear. 
These words, verbs all of them, are called auxiliaries, 
because they are used principally in combination 
with other verbs, helping to express various shades 
of meaning. It is good mental exercise to dissect 
a long phrase like may have been loving and try to 
determine what each word does toward completing 
the idea; but ordinarily it is better for the young 
student to think of the phrase as if it were all a 
single word. (See exercise XII on page 77.) 

The indicative mood is used in plain, straight- 
away assertion and question. It presents no diffi- 
culties except in two tenses, the past and the future, 
and these must be examined with great care. 

Was is singular, were is plural. It is therefore in- 
correct to write They was all present, We was pleased 
to see him; for the verb should agree with its subject 
in number. But note that nowhere is was found in 
the second person singular. It is you were loving and 
not you was loving, you were being loved and not you 
was being loved. It is odd that the plural form were 
should be used with the singular pronoun you, but it 
is so used by those who speak correctly. Those who 
say you was instead of you were belong, as a rule, to 
the large, unfortunate class who use aint and haint 
for am not and haven't. Aint and haint are forms 
unknown to grammar. 



56 WORDS AND SENTENCES 

Shall and will are troublesome because each per- 
forms a double service, sometimes indicating plain 
futurity and sometimes volition, or an act of the will. 
They cease to give trouble when the meaning of the 
words futurity and volition is clearly understood and 
a few simple rules have been mastered. When one 
says / shall be twenty to-morrow, or Friday will be the 
thirteenth, he does not mean that he is determined to 
be twenty on the morrow, or that he promises to 
make Friday the thirteenth, for these are matters 
over which he has no control; he simply states a 
future certainty. On the other hand / will give you 
a dollar for your knife is a promise; and He shall suffer 
for this is a threat or the expression of a determina- 
tion. Promises, threats, resolves, and the like, are 
acts of the will; they come under the general term 
volition. Three rules cover nearly all troublesome 
cases : 

I. To express a simple future, use shall with the 
first person, will with the second and the third. 

II. To express volition, use will with the first per- 
son, shall with the second and the third. 

III. In an interrogative sentence, use shall with the 
first person always. With the second person and the 
third use shall when shall is expected in the answer 
and will when will is expected in the answer. (See 
exercises XVI and XVII on pages 79 and 80.) 

The subjunctive mood is used most commonly in 
conditional clauses to imply that the contrary of that 
which is stated is true, as in the sentence // to-day 



REVIEW OF ENGLISH GRAMMAR 57 

were to-morrow, we should know all about it. It is 
also used sometimes to express a wish, as in the sen- 
tence that I were home ! But the subjunctive mood 
has almost disappeared from our common speech. 
The idea of extreme doubt, supposition, condition 
contrary to fact, etc., remains, but it is no longer ex- 
pressed by a separate system of forms such as we 
have in the indicative mood. The indicative and 
potential forms, helped out not a little by the con- 
junctions if, though, unless, except, lest, and whether, 
now do most of the work formerly done by the sub- 
junctive. Little attention, therefore, need be paid 
to this mood, except in a single case where it still 
performs an important service. Notice carefully the 
indicative and subjunctive past tense progressive 
forms of the verb love: 

Indicative 
I was loving we were loving 

you were loving you were loving 

he was loving they were loving 

Subjunctive 
if I were loving if we were loving 

if you were loving if you were loving 

if he were loving if they were loving 

The if is not a part of the verb; it appears in con- 
nection with the subjunctive merely because some 
such conjunction is frequently, though not always, 
used with that mood. It may be used with the in- 
dicative too; but if I was loving and if I were loving 
do not mean the same thing. The former expresses 



58 WORDS AND SENTENCES 

a simple condition in past time; the latter has nothing 
to do with past time, but sets forth a state of affairs 
contrary to fact or merely thought of. Note the 
following sentences : 

If the day was pleasant, they must have en- 
joyed the drive. 

If the day were pleasant, they might enjoy 
the drive. 
In the first sentence the speaker tells simply what 
must have happened under a given condition. The 
sentence has to do with past time. It does not sup- 
pose something which is not true; it is a pure con- 
ditional sentence. In the second there is an element 
of make-believe. The day, we know at once, is not 
pleasant, but the speaker imagines what might 
happen were the day different. The sentence has 
nothing to do with past time. The rule covering 
the use of the two moods in the past tense is as 
follows : 

Use the past tense of the indicative to express simple 
condition in past time. Use the past tense of the sub- 
junctive to express the idea of uncertainty, extreme 
doubt, or condition contrary to fact in present time 
(See exercise XV on page 79.) 

Potential is a term, old-fashioned and very much 
too narrow but still convenient, applied by some to 
all verb phrases containing the auxiliaries may, can, 
must, might, could, would, or should, auxiliaries which 
help the verbs they accompany to express a variety 
of ideas such as obligation, power, possibility, liberty. 



REVIEW OF ENGLISH GRAMMAR 59 

Many grammarians believe that there is no potential 
mood and that the so-called potentials are indicatives 
and subjunctives. It is of more importance that we 
learn to use may, can, and the rest of the auxiliaries 
correctly than it is that we settle this disputed point. 

May, can, would, and should are the four auxiliaries 
most commonly misused. Can denotes ability to do. 
May sometimes denotes a wish, as in the sentence 
May you have a pleasant journey, and sometimes 
possibility, as in the sentence It may rain) and some- 
times permission, as in the sentence You may go now. 
The point to be remembered is this : 

Can denotes ability to do ; may denotes permission. 
Hence You can go means You are able to go; You 
may go means / give you permission to go. (See ex- 
ercise XIX on page 81.) 

Should is sometimes used to express the idea of 
duty or obligation, and would to express the idea of 
accustomed action, as in the sentences We should be 
just to our enemies and We would hear the swallows 
chattering in the big chimney whenever the mother bird 
brought food. But they are used also like shall and 
will and in a general way follow the same rules, 
should corresponding to shall, and would to will. This 
is seen when a sentence in direct discourse is turned 
into indirect discourse. He said, "I shall be home 
to-morrov)" becomes He said that he should be home 
to-morrow. He said, "I will help pay for the boat" 
becomes He said he would help pay for the boat. In a 
conditional clause, should is used with all three per- 



60 WORDS AND SENTENCES 

sons to express futurity and would with all three per- 
sons to express volition; but in the principal clause 
of a conditional sentence, should and would follow 
the rules for shall and will. 

Simple future: If he should call, I should be 

glad to see him. 

Volition: If he should need money, I would 

send him a draft. 
All this is quite puzzling; but we may simplify mat- 
ters a little by remembering two rules which cover 
nearly all troublesome cases: 

I. In indirect discourse use should where shall 
would be used in direct discourse; use would where 
will would be used in direct discourse. 

II. In the principal clause of a conditional sentence, 
use should with the first person and would with the 
second and third persons to express simple future. 
Use would with the first person and should with the 
second and third persons to express volitional future. 
(See exercise XVIII on page 81.) 

Infinitives are verb forms that are used like nouns, 
and participles are verb forms that are used like ad- 
jectives. They retain the essential idea of the verb 
from which they are derived; like verbs they have 
voice and tense; and they may be modified as verbs 
are modified, and may govern the objective case. 
At the same time they have the force of nouns and 
adjectives. 

The verb always forms the principal part of the 
predicate, stating or asking something concerning the 



REVIEW OF ENGLISH GRAMMAR 61 



substantive which serves as its subject. The prin- 
cipal ways in which infinitives and participles are 
used are illustrated below. Note that while the in- 
finitive commonly serves as a substantive, the sub- 
stantive idea is lacking in the last three examples in 
the first group. The last sentence in the second group 
shows the participle in what is called the absolute 
construction. 

1. To give is more blessed than to receive. 
2. Ask him to wait for us. 3. I purchased this 
before seeing the others. 4. Winning a battle 
is not always gaining what one desires. 5. It 
is never too late to mend. 6. We went to the 
beach to gather driftwood. 7. It was a victory 
to be proud of. 8. I am glad to hear such good 
news. 

1. There is a familiar adage about whistling 
girls. 2. I left him standing by the road. 3. 
The dog, barking furiously, soon frightened them 
away. 4. Having sung till we could sing no more, 
we covered up the embers and prepared for 
bed. 5. The bell having rung, we formed in line. 

• Simple 

r hence, how, however, now, so, 
Conjunctive { then, thence, when, whence, 

I where, whither, why, etc. 
Expletive : there 
Responsives: yes, no 



Adverbs 



Kinds <! 



Forms: positive, comparative, superlative 

[ How used: To modify verbs, adjectives, and other 
adverbs; to serve as conjunctions 



62 WORDS AND SENTENCES 

Adverbs are easily recognized, especially the sim- 
ple ones indicating time, place, motion, manner, etc. 
A few are compared like adjectives, 
much, more, most 
soon, sooner, soonest 
quickly, more quickly, most quickly 
Conjunctive adverbs are so called because they in- 
troduce subordinate clauses much as relative pro- 
nouns do, at the same time serving as modifiers. 

Where have they gone? 

They have gone where we cannot follow. 
In the first sentence, where is plainly an adverb. 
In the second, it serves not only as an adverb but 
as a conjunction joining They have gone and we cannot 
follow; hence it is a conjunctive adverb. The ex- 
pletive there, seen in such sentences as There ivas 
mounting in hot haste, is so called because it " fills 
out ". Since it stands first, oftentimes, where we 
naturally expect to find the subject, it is frequently 
mistaken for the subject and made to govern the 
verb. Thus we have such errors as There was four 
of us; for the thoughtless person assumes that the 
expletive must be singular and so should be followed 
by a verb in the singular number. Yes and no, almost 
always used independently, are not, strictly speaking, 
adverbs at all, since they modify nothing. 

The following sentences show how adverbs are 
used : 

1. Go quietly. 2. What could be more beau- 
tiful! 3. She sleeps most soundly now. 4. He 



REVIEW OF ENGLISH GRAMMAR 63 

will come when we are ready. 5. There are 
many reasons why we should go. 6. Fes, let us 
be patient. 



f Kinds: All of the same kind 

I Forms: No changes in form 

reposi ions < n ow use( j . To connect words and show the re- 
lation between them 

Prepositions form but a small group, a hundred or 
so, not more than fifty or sixty of which are in com- 
mon use. All are of the same kind, do the same 
thing; they introduce phrases, connecting sub- 
stantives with other words and showing the relation- 
ship between them. The object of a preposition is in 
the objective case. When a prepositional phrase 
modifies a substantive, it is called an adjective phrase; 
when it is used like an adverb, it is called an ad- 
verbial phrase. (See exercise III on page 68.) 

Adjective: He wore a badge of blue ribbon. 

Adverbial : They will come in the morning. 



r Kinds : Coordinate, subordinate 
Conjunctions -j Forms: No changes in form 

I How used : To connect words, phrases, clauses. 

Conjunctions differ from prepositions in that the 
former are usually employed to connect clauses, while 
the latter are always employed to connect single 
words. When a conjunction is used to connect sin- 
gle words, the words are in the same construction; 
that is, they are used alike, are of the same rank. 



64 WORDS AND SENTENCES 

The two words joined by a preposition are always of 
unequal rank : 

The house and the barn were burned. 
The hay was stored in the barn. 
In the first sentence house and barn are in the same 
construction; that is, both are subjects of the same 
verb. Was stored and barn, in the second sentence, 
are in different constructions; barn modifies was 
stored adverbially. It is not difficult, therefore, to tell 
whether a given connective is a preposition or a con- 
junction; but it is sometimes puzzling to tell whether 
a conjunction is coordinate or subordinate. Coor- 
dinate conjunctions connect words, phrases, and 
clauses which have the same grammatical relation; 
that is, are in the same construction. Subordinate 
conjunctions introduce subordinate clauses, and are 
found, therefore, in complex sentences only. There 
are three kinds of subordinate or dependent clauses: 
adjective, adverbial, noun. If one can learn to 
recognize these three kinds, "he should have no diffi- 
culty in distinguishing between the two kinds of con- 
junctions. A noun clause is used like a noun, an 
adjective clause is used like an adjective, and an 
adverbial clause is used like an adverb. The first 
three illustrations given below contain subordinate 
conjunctions introducing noun clauses, the remain- 
ing ones contain subordinate conjunctions introduc- 
ing adjective and adverbial clauses. 

1. That the steamship is lost is beyond all 
question. 2. They report that the steamship is 



REVIEW OF ENGLISH GRAMMAR 65 

lost. 3. It all depends on where the steamship 
went ashore. 4. The steamship struck while the 
passengers were at dinner. 5. // it had not been 
foggy, the accident would not have happened. 
6. Do unto others as you wotdd have them do 
unto you. 7. Return to the place whence you 
came. 8. There was a time when we could 
have escaped. 
All connectives — prepositions, relative pronouns, sim- 
ple conjunctions, conjunctive adverbs — are exceed- 
ingly important in that they bind together the various 
parts of a sentence. (See exercises IV and XXI on 
pages 69 and 82.) 

Selecting items here and there from the preceding 
paragraphs, combining and condensing them, we 
have the following summary concerning how words 
are used in the building of sentences : 

I. Every sentence must have a subject and a predicate, 
the former naming that concerning which something is 
asserted or some question asked, the latter asserting or asking 
something concerning that which the subject names. The 
vital part of the predicate is always a verb. The vital part 
of the subject is always a noun or some word or word-group 
that is used like a noun. 

II. The meaning of a verb may be modified (i) by a noun 
or pronoun objective, (2) by a predicate noun or adjective 
qualifying the subject of the verb, (3) by an adverb, an 
adverbial phrase, or an adverbial clause. The meaning of 
a noun may be changed (1) by an adjective, (2) by a noun or 
a pronoun in the possessive case, (3) by a phrase or a clause. 
An adjective may be modified by an adverb, an adverb by 
another adverb. 



66 WORDS AND SENTENCES 

Several of the rules governing person, number, 
gender, and case have been given or implied in earlier 
paragraphs. Supplementing these we have the 
following: 

I. The subject of a verb is in the nominative case. 
II. A verb agrees with its subject in person and number. 

III. A noun or pronoun the object, direct or indirect, of a 

verb is in the objective case. 

IV. A predicate noun or pronoun agrees in case with the 

subject it qualifies. 
V . A word in apposition with another word agrees with it 

in case. 
VI. A noun or pronoun governed by a preposition is in the 

objective case. 
VII. A pronoun agrees with its antecedent in person, num- 
ber, and gender. 
VIII. A noun or pronoun with an appositive adjective or its 
equivalent is sometimes used in the nominative case 
absolutely. 



EXERCISES 

I. Point out the subject of each sentence. If the sub- 
ject is made up of more than one word, analyze it, show- 
ing how the bare subject is expanded. How many kinds 
of modifiers do you find? 

I. Clouds will intervene. 2. Honor and shame from 
no condition rise. 3. A pleasing countenance is a silent 
recommendation. 4. A fool's bolt is soon shot. 5. 
The proof of the pudding is in the eating. 6. What 
cannot be cured must be endured. 7. He who arrives 
first at the mill should first have his grist. 8. To be 
poor without being free is the worst state into which 
man can fall. 9. In the lexicon of youth, which fate 
reserves for a bright manhood, there is no such word 
as fail. 10. It is better to fall from the window than 
from the roof. 11. Count not your chickens before they 
are hatched. 12. Avarice, mother of all wickedness, 
always thirsty for more, opens wide her jaws for gold. 

13. The Sunflower, thinking 'twas for him foul shame 
To nap by daylight, strove t'excuse the blame; 
It was not sleep that made him nod, he said, 
But too great weight and largeness of his head. 

— Cowley. 

II. Point out the predicate of each sentence. If the 
verb is modified, analyze the predicate, showing how it 

67 



68 WORDS AND SENTENCES 

is expanded. How many kinds of modifiers do you 
find? 

1. Time flies. 2. Make haste slowly. 3. Light gains 
make a heavy purse. 4. A thing of beauty is a joy for- 
ever. 5. At night all cats are gray. 6. Strike while 
the iron is hot. 7. Give us this day our daily bread. 
8. Young folks tell what they do, old ones what they 
have done, and fools what they intend to do. 9. A 
soft answer turneth away wrath; but grievous words 
stir up anger. 10. A bad workman always quarrels 
with his tools. 11. When the fox is asleep, nothing 
falls into his mouth. 12. All is not gold that glitters. 
13. When beechen buds begin to swell, 

And woods the bluebird's warble know, 
The yellow violet's modest bell 

Peeps from the last year's leaves below. 

— Bryant. 

III. Point out the phrases and tell what each one 
modifies. Analyze each phrase. How many kinds do 
you find? 

1. A hare is not caught by a drum. 2. Look not a 
gift-horse in the mouth. 3. It is necessary to wait for 
the lame man. 4. A sparrow in the hand is better than 
a goose in the wing. 5. Unto the pure all things are 
pure. 6. Burning the candle at both ends is folly. 7. 
To be or not to be— that is the question. 8. It is more 
blessed to give than to receive. 9. He who follows two 
hares is sure to catch neither. 10. We all have suffi- 
cient strength to bear the misfortunes of others. 11. 
Frightening a bird is not the way to catch it. 12. It is 
great folly to think of being wise alone. 13. Please ask 



EXERCISES 69 

him to remain a minute. 14. By following the trail we 
easily found the cabin. 15. I do not enjoy being left 
alone. 16. The brook, winding in and out, at length 
reaches the river. 17. All hope having been abandoned, 
the boat was allowed to drift. 18. Having been warned 
of their danger, the girls turned back. 19. The snow, 
sweeping across the open fields, piled high against the 
cabin. 20. Many a tale is lost in telling. 
21. And then there was a little isle 
Which in my very face did smile, 

The only one in view; 
A small green isle, it seemed no more, 
Scarce broader than my dungeon door, 
But in it there were three tall trees, 
And o'er it blew the mountain breeze, 
And by it there were waters flowing, 
And on it there were young flowers growing 
Of gentle breath and hue. — Byron. 

IV. Point out and analyze each clause. Which ones 
are subordinate? Which of the subordinate clauses are 
substantive? adjective? adverbial? 

1. Adversity makes men and prosperity makes mon- 
sters. 2. He who has good health is rich, though he 
may not know it. 3. What is well done is twice done. 
4. Go where glory waits. 5. Ask what ye will and it 
shall be granted. 6. Honor the old, instruct the young, 
consult the wise, and bear with the foolish. 7. He that 
gathereth in summer is a wise son; but he that sleepeth 
in harvest is a son that causeth shame. 8. If the sky 
falls, we shall catch larks. 9. One does not always 
know who may be trusted. 10. Tell me what you read 



70 WORDS AND SENTENCES 

and I will tell you what you are. 11. All philosophy, 
says Epictetus, lies in the two words sustain and ab- 
stain. 12. We must expect to work for what we get. 
13. Where no wood is, there the fire goeth out. 14. 
Much may be made of a Scotchman, Johnson once re- 
marked, if he be caught young. 15. Make hay while 
the sun shines. 16. Keep thy shop and thy shop will 
keep thee. 17. Let another man praise thee; and not 
thine own mouth; a stranger, and not thine own lips. 

18. For of all sad words of tongue or pen, 

The saddest are these: "It might have been." 

— Whittier. 

19. Breathes there the man with soul so dead, 
Who never to himself hath said, 

"This is my own — my native land!" — Scott. 

V. Attention has been called to the fact that many 
words are used now as one part of speech, now as an- 
other. Note carefully each italicized word in the sen- 
tences below. What duty does it perform? What part 
of speech is it? What other part of speech may it be 
at times? 

1. Good, quickly, with, or, himself, and laughed are 
common words. 2. Three cheers for the red, white, and 
blue] 3. The French were victorious. 4. The captain 
made a home run. 5. Six of the boys consented. 6. 
Waiting is tiresome, even in this cool waiting-room. 7. 
To go is better than to perish. 8. The tongue of the 
just is as choice silver. 9. Be just to your enemies. 
10. It called, just then, a second time. 11. They say 
he lives in a glass house. 12. The wandering clouds go 
by. 13. Why do you drive so fast? 14, Oh, young 



EXERCISES 71 

Lochinvar is come out of the West. 15. Call me early, 
for I must take an early train. 16. The under part next 
received attention. 17. The last shall be first. 18. He 
pitched an in curve. 19. He must be there by now. 
20. Wait till the clouds roll by. 21. Yonder shepherd 
beckons. 22. Look yonder I 23. Try hard to break 
this hard stone. 24. Good-bye, proud world, I'm going 
home. 25. Please black the stove. 26. The public 
made known their wishes. 27. We walked about the 
garden. 28. The wind blew so strong that they turned 
about and walked the other way. 29. Who called with- 
in? 30. We shall be there within an hour. 31. I am 
about through. 32. Since then, we have been careful to 
lock the door. 33. Where shall you house your canoe, 
this winter? 34. The culprit was brought before the 
judge. 35. The judge had never seen him before. 36. 
He escaped before he had served his sentence. 37. Do 
not remain out after dark. 38. The after effects were 
unpleasant. 39. We purchased a to let sign. 40. I 
will come after I have finished my letter. 41. Slow up, 
please! 42. That is too bad. 43. That boy is an 
athlete. 44. The errand that we were to do is now un- 
necessary. 45. I think that we may go now. 46. Now 
what part of speech is the word that? 47. My ship 
rides at anchor. 48. This is mine. 49. This boy was 
called Leonidas. 50. Let each take one. 51. Each 
girl may take two. 52. Whose name was mentioned 
first? 53. The one whose name is called first must go. 
54. Who calls? 55. He goes last who once was first. 
56. Why are you so quiet? 57. The train was late, so 
we went for a walk. 58. When shall their glory fade! 
59. When the cats are away, the mice will play. 60. 



72 WORDS AND SENTENCES 

Why should we complain. 61. He asked why we were 

so merry. 62. Thank her for her kindness. 63. We 

have waited since eleven. 64. Since we must remain, 

let us make the best of it. 65. Where are the reapers? 

66. Go where glory waits. 67. The stag at eve had 
drunk his fill. 68. We lost the way and had to foot it 
home. 

VI. Write the plural forms of ally, alley, volley, val- 
ley, cry, lady, folly, fairy, gypsy, reply, turkey, pulley, 
galley, soliloquy, journey, attorney, chimney, colloquy, 
caddy, chief, dwarf, loaf, scarf, staff, cloth, wife, self, 
himself, myself, gulf, calf, roof, leaf, proof, motto, 
buffalo, domino, dynamo, cargo, veto, hero, portico, 
zero, potato, piano, echo, solo, tomato, alumna, alumnus, 
larva, formula, focus, nebula, phenomenon, stratum, 
bacterium, medium, erratum, dictum, oasis, antithesis, 
thesis, axis, analysis, crisis, parenthesis, hypothesis, 
corps, tableau, beau, genus, radius, Norman, Northman, 
Frenchman, German, merchantman, daughter-in-law, 
bill-of-fare, hanger-on, handful, James, Henry, Mary, 
Dr. Jones, Miss Stone, Mrs. Grundy, Mr. Grundy, Master 
Grundy, 6, m, +. 

VII. Write the singular possessive forms of ally, alley, 
fairy, caddy, oasis, daughter-in-law, Mr. Grundy, I, you, 
he, she, it, who, Dickens, Jones, Wiggs, Themistocles, 
the King of England, Dickens and Thackeray (joint 
possession), Edward Clark, Esq., Byron and Scott 
(individual possession), Addison or Steele (as in the 

sentence This is or ), Keats, Holmes, 

Clarke the hardware merchant. 



EXERCISES 73 

Write the plural possessive form of ally, alley, lady, 
fairy, caddy, hero, oasis, corps, beau, calf, daughter-in- 
law, they, Henry, Miss Stone, Jones, Wiggs, Dickens, 
King of Sweden. 

Which of the two forms enclosed in parenthesis is 
correct? 1. Think of (me, my) asking such a question! 
2. The (train, train's) being late resulted in (them, their) 
failing to make connections. 3. There is some talk of 
(Mr. Taylor's, Mr. Taylor) being made president. 4. 
What sense is there in a (boy, boy's) losing his temper! 

5. I never heard of (him, his) doing anything cowardly. 

VIII. The sentences below illustrate common errors 
in the use of pronouns and pronominal adjectives. 
Correct the errors, in each case telling why the pronoun 
as used is incorrect. 

1. The contrast between he and Macbeth is marked. 
2. Whom do they think I am? 3. Let's see who'll get 
there first, you or me. 4. If I were him, I'd accept the 
offer. 5. Everyone except she applauded the speaker. 

6. Yourself and your family are invited to attend our 
opening Friday evening. 7. Who is you're friend? 8. 
We have been waiting this two hours. 9. Who'se to 
blame? 10. They must look out for theirselves. 11. 
Let he who standeth take heed lest he fall. 12. I am 
sure it was them. 13. He shot hisself accidentally. 
14. Who are you going to invite? 15. I think it's wing 
is broken. 16. The weather will not permit of me stay- 
ing out late. 17. Please pass me some of them grapes. 
18. I know who I like and who I don't like better than 
him. 19. He was less clumsy than myself. 20. This 
isn't ourn; it must be theirn. 21. The three Clarke 



74 WORDS AND SENTENCES 

boys and myself went in the automobile. 22. It must 
have been us you saw. 23. There is no use in me trying 
for the prize. 24. They called upon a man whom they 
thought would surely know all about it. 25. I wonder 
who he means. 26. It lies between you and I. 27. 
Why should we not enjoy what is our's? 28. The boat 
righted it's self instantly. 29. He allowed my brother 
and I to take his gun. 30. I think you are as tall as 
her. 31. Here is the gentleman who you wished to see. 

32. Between you and I, the game was not won fairly. 

33. Do you like these kind better? 34. I do not know 
who to turn to. 35. He is the one who I consider the 
strongest candidate. 36. Us girls have great larks. 37. 
I thought you said their were good boats. Are these 
them? 38. Neither John nor Arthur brought their 
lunch. 39. No one should allow themselves to be de- 
ceived. 40. When any one is going camping, they 
should take warm clothing. 

IX. The simplest rule in sentence-building, and un- 
questionably the rule most frequently violated, states 
that a verb should agree with its subject in person and 
number. He don't, you was, they was, and I says are 
expressions commonly used even by those who think 
that they speak correctly. Point out the bare subject 
of each of the following sentences. Point out the bare 
predicate. Point out the error in agreement. Try to 
give a clear explanation of how, in all probability, the 
error came about. Was it due to failure to see that 
the subject was a collective noun or the plural form 
of a foreign term? Did the writer assume that there, 
coming immediately before the verb, was a substantive 



EXERCISES 75 

in the singular number? Did he mistake for the subject 
some noun standing nearer the verb than the real sub- 
ject? Did he forget that with is a preposition, not a 
conjunction? 

1. In back of the grapes was two pineapples. 2. 
There was so many attending the game that we could 
not get a good seat. 3. If each of the boys are closely 
watched, the trick will soon be apparent. 4. First the 
girl's name is given, then follows her age and birthplace. 
5. This house don't look quite as old-fashioned as the 
other. 6. Under these was two basket-balls and a pair 
of boxing-gloves. 7. On the north side is a door and 
two windows. 8. He don't know any better than to 
say they aintl 9. There was but two girls present. 10. 
The phenomena was most singular. 11. The papers 
tell where and when there is to be bargain sales. 12. 
Two of us remained at "home, so there was but two to 
go in the boat. 13. The father with his three sons were 
saved. 14. Every one of the articles were sold. 15. 
There's no two ways about it! 16. Tales of a Wayside 
Inn were written by Longfellow. 17. Fifteen minutes 
were soon gone. 18. No one but Edward and George 
were absent. 19. It happened when you was away. 
20. More than one has made the same mistake. 21. 
Quickness as well as strength are needed. 22. A hun- 
dred feet of hose were rapidly paid out. 23. To the 
captain and the manager of the team are due most of 
the credit. 24. We was having the time of our lives. 
25. Honesty, as well as cleverness, count. 26. Two- 
thirds of the roof were shingled before the rain fell. 27. 
My favorite study are mathematics. 28. The binding 
of the books were insecure. 29. Home, with all its 



76 



WORDS AND SENTENCES 



many comforts, were soon forgotten. 30. I says 
"walk"; he says "ride". 31. On the platform even 
with the sill is three cages. 32. Thirty thousand dollars 
were paid for the mansion. 33. Each of the sticks were 
given a coat of walnut stain. 34. Was you surprised to 
see your mother? 35. Which of the two boys were 
John? 36. It will clear before eleven; you see if it 
don't. 



X. Learn the following table so thoroughly that if a 
principal part of any verb be given you can without 
hesitation supply the remaining parts. Words starred 
are of the new or weak conjugation. 



arise 


arose 


arisen 


awake 


awoke 


awaked 


bear 


bore or 


born or 


beat 


beat 


beaten 




bare 


borne 


begin 


began 


begun 


bend * 


bent 


bent 


bid 


bade or 


bidden 


bite 


bit 


bitten 




bid 




break 


broke 


broken 


bring * 


brought 


brought 


burst 


burst 


burst 


choose 


chose 


chosen 


cling 


clung 


clung 


come 


came 


come 


cost * 


cost 


cost 


do 


did 


done 


draw 


drew 


drawn 


drive 


drove 


driven 


drink 


drank 


drunk 


drown * 


drowned 


drowned 


eat 


ate or eat 


; eaten 


fight 


fought 


fought 


flee * 


fled 


fled 


fling 


flung 


flung 


flow * 


flowed 


flowed 


fly 


flew 


flown 


forbid 


forbade 


forbidden forget 


forgot 


forgotten 


freeze 


froze 


frozen 


give 


gave 


given 


go 


went 


gone 


grow 


grew 


grown 


hear * 


heard 


heard 


hit* 


hit 


hit 


hurt * 


hurt 


hurt 


knit* 


knit 


knit 


lay * 


laid 


lain 


lead * 


led 


led 


leap * 


leapt 


leapt 


let* 


let 


let 


lie 


lay 


lain 


lie * 


lied 


lied 







EXERCISES 




7 


loose * 


loosed 


loosed 


lose * 


lost 


lost 


put * 


put 


put 


rid * 


rid 


rid 


run 


ran 


run 


see 


saw 


seen 


set * 


set 


set 


shrink * 


shrank 


shrunk 


sing 


sang 


sung 


sit 


sat 


sat 


slay 


slew 


slain 


sling 


slung 


slung 


speak 


spoke 


spoken 


spring 


sprang 


sprung 


steal 


stole 


stolen 


string 


strung 


strung 


swear 


swore 


sworn 


swim 


swam 


swum 


tear 


tore 


torn 


think * 


thought 


thought 


throw 


threw 


thrown 


wake 


waked * 


waked * 


wear 


wore 


worn 




or woke 




wet * 


wet 


wet 


wring 


wrung 


wrung 


write 


wrote 


written 









77 



XI. Notice that there are no such forms as brung, 
busted, costed, drownded, growed, hitted, hurted, runned, 
swored, swimmed, wored. Write sentences in which the 
past tense and past participle forms of the following 
verbs are used: bring, burst, cost, drown, grow, hit, 
hurt, run, wear, swim, swear. 



XII. Give the active and passive past perfect of 
beat; the active past, simple and progressive forms, of 
begin; the passive past progressive of bite; all the in- 
finitives and participles of bring; the active past of 
come, eat, and fling; the passive past progressive of hear; 
the active past progressive of lie (to recline); the active 
potential past of see; the active present and past sub- 
junctive of sing; the participles of swim; the active 
present progressive of slay; the passive present pro- 
gressive of slay; the active simple future of write. Give 
a synopsis (all first person forms in all moods and tenses, 
all imperative, infinitive, and participial forms) of love. 

tOFC. 



78 WORDS AND SENTENCES 

Conjugate work in the active progressive. Conjugate in 
full the verb help. 

XIII. Which of the verbs found in Exercise X are 
always used transitively? intransitively? Which may 
be used either way? 

XIV. Lie and sit are intransitive verbs; lay and set 
are transitive. Supply the correct forms in the follow- 
ing sentences: 

1. The tree has there many years. 2. Let the 

book where it is. 3. I think I have — here 

long enough. 4. We at anchor till the storm 

blew over. 5. In which direction does our camp 

? 6. The grounds were beautifully out. 

7. When the culprits were caught, they - — the 

blame on others. 8. Speckle has an egg in the 

box that by the stable door. 9. I think the 

town now to the east. 10. Will you not 

down? 11. He said that he would down for a 

while; so we his blankets in the shade. 12. 

His only fault, they said, in the one word am- 
bition. 13. Where the tree falleth, there must it 



1. He was in the room. 2. We had 

up most of the night. 3. After the sun had 

, the air grew chilly. 4. Please down a 



minute. 5. After we had there a long time, the 

door opened. 6. The house, he said, back a 

little from the street. 7. Old wives a-sunning . 

8. The little bird at his door in the sun. 



EXERCISES 79 

XV. Complete the following sentences by inserting 
was and were where needed, in each case giving a reason 
for your choice. Remember that the indicative is used 
to denote simple condition in past time, the subjunctive 
were to denote a mere supposition or to present a state 
of affairs contrary to fact. 

1. We looked to see if it still raining. 2. If 

he coming, he would be here now. 3. If he 

tardy, he should bring an excuse. 4. If I 

you, I should start at once. 5. Would that it 

true! 6. If he asked, he would come. 

7. If he asked, I knew nothing of it. 8. I wish 

that I with you. 9. If he strong, we 

should take him with us. 10. If it true then, it 

must be true now. 11. He would seem stern 

it not for a twinkle in his eye. 12. If it he, I 

failed to recognize him. 13. Suppose you asked 

to go; what should you say? 14. We used the cottage 

as freely as if it — our own. 15. Why, man, if the 

river dry, I am able to fill it with my tears; if 

the wind down, I could drive the boat with my 

sighs. 

16. Love Virtue; she alone is free. 
She can teach you how to climb 
Higher than the spiry chime; 

Or, if Virtue feeble , 

Heaven itself would stoop to her. — Milton. 

XVI. Supply shall or will, whichever is correct, in 
each of the following sentences: 

1. I hope to see you often. 2. I am deter- 
mined that he have a pleasant time. 3. If you 



80 WORDS AND SENTENCES 

call at eight, you find me at home. 4 



I be greatly obliged if you bring the 

books with you. 5. We know that we have to 

work hard, but we think it do us no harm. 6. 

John is determined that he be first. 7. John 

tells me that he be able to join the party.* 8. 

He writes that he be sixteen to-morrow. 9. If 

you go, I want to go too. 10. I think we 

be asked to remain. 11. The weather forecaster says 

that we have a fair day to-morrow. 12. I think 

we see land before night. 13. — you be 

able to accompany us? 14. When we reach 

Dallas? 15. we have time to purchase tickets? 

16. What I do if it rains? 17. you be 

sorry to see the snow come? 18. How I know 

where to go? 19. we be permitted to take 

books home? 20. there be a bonfire, do you 

think? 21. they know which road to take? 

XVII. Show very clearly that the meaning of each of 
the following sentences changes according as shall or 
will is supplied. . 

1. you attend the concert? 2. We — — — 

not disappoint you. 3. There be no laughter. 

4. they wait for us? 5. He read the 

book. 6. he provide lunch? 7. I be 

king. 8. I drown, if you do not help me. 9. 

He drown, if you do not help him. 10. You 

drown, if no one helps you. 11. We 

* Where shall would be used in direct discourse, use shall in 
indirect discourse; where will would be used, use will in the 
indirect. 



EXERCISES 81 

reach New York before eight. 12. I contribute 

ten dollars. 13. you try for honors? 14. He 

reports that the train wait for us. 

XVIII. Supply should and would where the sense 
requires in the following sentences: 

1. I — like to help you, and I if I could. 

2. I hoped that I not be asked. 3. I know I 

enjoy golf, but I think I prefer tennis. 

4. I be afraid to ride such a spirited horse. 5. 

If you will permit me, I like to add a word. 6. 

If you rescued the crew, you be rewarded. 7. 

He said that I go if there was room. 8. He 

asked if I take him too. 9. I be sorry to 

see him fail. 10. I send him aid if I thought he 

would accept it. 11. What we do with a white 

elephant if we had one? 12. I thought I * fail. 

13. If you speak to him, he give you a 

courteous answer. 14. Had I been in his position, I 

have done the same. 15. We planned that he 

go by train. 16. If you be in town, we 

be pleased to have you call. 17. He promised 

that the next lesson be better prepared. 18. 

He thought that he find it. 19. We returned it 

lest he think it had been stolen. 20. He thought 

he be forced to tell the secret, in spite of all he 

could do. 21. Had we delayed a moment longer, we 
have lost everything. 

XIX. Show clearly that each sentence changes in 
meaning according as may or can is supplied: 

1. I help you? 2, we tell all that we 



82 WORDS AND SENTENCES 

know? 3. we not find our way back to the 

boat? 4. He says you go. 5. we have 

the pleasure of your company? 6. What more 

be done? 7. This not be done; it is against the 

rules. 

8. Now my task is lightly done, 
I fly and I run. 

XX. Tell very clearly why each of the following sen- 
tences is incorrect: 

1. He thinks he must of left it in the train. 2. This 
was the first time I was ever elected to office. 3. I 
should be pleased if he will call at my home. 4. Do 
you know when he come to town? 5. We done the best 
we could. 6. They, thinking him to have been with 
the others, did not worry about his absence. 7. You 
had ought to have seen us! 8. It was enough to have 
discouraged any one. 9. I intended to have written 
long ago. 10. If I permit you to go, I should have to 
ask you to return before nine. 11. I am not sure where 
they went, but I think they may have went shopping. 
12. They must have forgot all about it. 13. When the 
storm broke, we all run for shelter. 14. Probably they 
would have drove on for another hour, had not darkness 
overtaken them. 15. We were to have sailed yesterday. 
16. Don't it look dark! 

XXI. Point out the connectives and tell what part 
of speech each connective is. Which ones do double 
duty, serving not only as connectives but as modifiers 
or substantives? Which of the conjunctions are co- 
ordinate and which are subordinate? 



EXERCISES 83 

1. He who hesitates is lost. 2. We sailed above the 
clouds. 3. Time and tide wait for no man. 4. Neither 
this nor that is precisely what I wish; but I will take a 
little of each unless you can show me something else. 
5. Notwithstanding the weight of the anchor, the yacht 
continued to drift. 6. Let him who standeth take heed 
lest he fall. 7. Underneath his faults were virtues little 
dreamed of. 8. Let us accept whatever comes and be 
of good cheer. 9. Although we have failed twice, a 
third time we may succeed. 10. Before breakfast, take 
a brisk walk through the fields. 11. The paths of glory 
lead but to the grave. 12. I go where the winds take 
me. 13. Do you know why the harebell hangs its head? 
14. We do not know whether to go or to remain; but 
since it matters little which we do, we will decide the 
matter by lot. 15. If thou faint in the day of adversity, 
thy strength is small. 16. Can you imagine what has 
happened that the train is so late? 17. Though he fall, 
he shall not be utterly cast down. 18. I do not see how 
we could have missed our way. 19. Between the hills 
lay a peaceful valley through which ran a sober little 
stream. 20. The undertaking is hazardous; still all 
may go well provided we are careful. 21. Notwith- 
standing all that has been said, the prisoner is blame- 
less. 22. Throughout the night came cries of distress 
from many quarters. 23. All except honor is lost. 
24. Therefore, since the whole is equal to the sum of all 
its parts, the angle A equals the angle B. 25. Wait 
till you have heard both sides. 

XXII. Point out the errors in the following sentences: 
1. We had neither food or shelter. 2. I got this book 



84 WORDS AND SENTENCES 

off of James. 3. The reason we did this was because 
we knew no better. 4. I am not sure but what we had 
better go now. 5. We arrived at about six in the 
evening. 6. He says he don't want no dinner. 7. We 
have no money nor no means of procuring it. 8. He 
looks like he was lame. 9. How nicely this tastes! 
10. He has an italian accent. 11. Can you not make 
it a little rounder at the top and squarer at the base? 
And make this edge a little straighter. 12. It will not 
rain before noon, I don't think. 13. We reached shore 
easy enough. 14. He returned in a very different spirit 
than he once had. 15. Would he not comply to your 
wishes? 16. No sooner had she said this when she be- 
gan to cry. 17. Strike out boldly like me! 18. This 
is very different than what we expected. 19. It was 
not as bad as we expected. 20. Like as not we'll meet 
them. 21. This is very pretty, but I think the other 
more preferable. 22. Any one would have done the same 
had he been frightened like John was. 23. As quick as 
the twigs kindle, put on the heavier wood. 24. Now 
pour enough water in the pan to cover the dishes. 25. 
These kind are hard to catch. 26. A dollar doesn't 
last long when divided between six hungry boys. 27. 
I don't know as I can say much more, gentlemen. 28. 
I shall be unable to go without I get my lessons first. 
29. By eight we were near starved. 30. Scarcely had 
we fallen asleep than the fire-bell began to ring. 

XXIII. Analyzing a sentence means taking it to 
pieces and pointing out how its parts are related. First 
we should tell whether the sentence is simple, com- 
pound, or complex. If it is compound, the clauses 



EXERCISES 85 

should be pointed out and the word or words connecting 
them; if complex, the principal clause should be pointed 
out first, then the subordinate members. Next we 
should analyze each clause, pointing out subject and 
predicate and the modifiers of each. Analyze the sen- 
tences in exercises I, II, III, IV, and XXI. 

XXIV. Parsing a word means telling (1) what part 
of speech it is, (2) what inflected form it represents, (3) 
how it is used, (4) what rule it obeys. The things to 
be told of the different parts of speech are as 
follows: 

Noun: Kind (common or proper), number, gender, 
case, how used, rule. 

Pronoun: Kind (personal, relative, demonstrative, 
interrogative, or indefinite), antecedent if the pronoun 
is a relative, gender if it is a personal pronoun, person if 
it is a personal or relative pronoun, number, case, how 
used, rule. 

Adjective: Kind (article, numeral, pronominal; com- 
mon or proper), degree if the adjective can be com- 
pared, how used. 

Verb: Kind (transitive or intransitive), conjugation 
(old or new), principal parts, voice, mode, tense, person, 
number, rule. 

Adverb: Kind (simple, conjunctive, expletive, re- 
sponsive), degree if the adverb can be compared, how 
used. 

Preposition : The word it governs, the words between 
which it shows relation. 

Conjunction: Kind (coordinate or subordinate), the 
words, phrases or clauses it connects. 



86 WORDS AND SENTENCES 

Interjection : Definition. 

Infinitive or Participle: To what verb it belongs, 
voice, tense, how used. 

Parse each word found in exercises I, II, III, IV, 
and XXI. 

XXV. Analyze the following sentences and parse 
each word: 

1. Geography explains history. 2. Death lays his 
icy hands on kings. 3. Unto the pure all things are 
pure. 4. And when his armour-bearer saw that Saul 
was dead, he fell likewise on the sword and died. 5. 
Heaven lies about us in our infancy. 6. A man with- 
out a sense of humor, some one has said, is occasionally 
to be respected, often to be feared, and nearly always 
to be avoided. 7. Facts in the mind, says Sir Oliver 
Lodge, are not dead things in a portmanteau; they are 
live things in a pond. 8. Truth makes all things plain. 
9. Patience is bitter but its fruit is sweet. 10. A good 
name is better than a girdle of gold. 11. Labor rids us 
of three great evils: tediousness, vice, and poverty. 
12. In vain do you lead the ox to the water, if he is not 
thirsty. 13. Many generations have come and gone 
since the little Mayflower lay rocking in yonder bay, 
with the Pilgrim mothers and sisters looking out wist- 
fully over the then lonely waters, and the children, 
cooped up for many a weary week, asking when at last 
they would be put on shore. 14. A wise man thinks 
before he speaks; but a fool speaks and then thinks of 
what he has been saying. 15. Disputes would not con- 
tinue so long, if the wrong lay but on one side. 16. It 
avails little to know what ought to be done, if you do 



EXERCISES 87 

not know how it is to be done. 17. The most original 
modern authors, says Goethe, are not so because they 
advance what is new, but simply because they know 
how to put what they have to say, as if it had never 
been said before. 18. As soon as the house was full 
and the candles lighted, my old friend stood up and 
looked about him with that pleasure which a mind sea- 
soned with humanity naturally feels in itself at the sight 
of a multitude of people who seem pleased with one an- 
other and partake of the same common enjoyment. 
19. We remain shackled by timidity till we have learned 
to speak with propriety. 20. The earth opens her bosom 
to receive impartially the beggar and the prince. 21. 
I know not what course others may take; but as for me, 
give me liberty or give me death! 22. The planter, who 
is man sent out into the field to gather food, is seldom 
cheered by any idea of the true dignity of his ministry. 
He sees his bushel and his cart and nothing beyond, and 
sinks into the farmer instead of the man on the farm. 
23. It is a pleasing sight, of a Sunday morning, when 
the bell is sending its sober melody across the quiet 
fields, to behold the peasantry in their best finery, with 
ruddy faces and modest cheerfulness, thronging tran- 
quilly along the green lanes to church; but it is still 
more pleasing to see them in the evenings, gathered 
about their cottage doors and appearing to exult in the 
humble comforts and embellishments which their own 
hands have spread around them. 24. After these 
words, the dragon, awful monster, flashing with blaz- 
ing flames, came on all wroth a second time to meet his 
hated foemen. 



88 WORDS AND SENTENCES 

XXVI. Analyze the following sentences and parse 

each word: 

1. The moon was afloat 

Like a golden boat 
On the sea-blue depths of the sky 
When the miller of Dee 
With his children three 
On his fat, red horse rode by. 
2 Who lacks the art to shape his thought, I hold, 
Were little poorer if he lacked the thought. 

— Aldrich. 

3. The evil that men do lives after them; 
The good is oft interred with their bones. 

— Shakespeare. 

4. Errors, like straws, upon the surface flow; 

He who would search for pearls must dive below, 

— Dryden. 

5. The stars look very cold about the sky, 

And I have many miles on foot to fare. — Keats. 

6. I read whatever bards have sung 

Of lands beyond the sea; 
And the bright days when I was young 
Come thronging back to me. — Longfellow. 

7. In Xanadu did Kubla Khan 

A stately pleasure-dome decree 
Where Alph, the sacred river, ran 
Through caverns measureless to man 

Down to a sunless sea.— Coleridge. 

8. In the moonlight the shepherds, 

Soft lulled by the rills, 
Lie wrapt in their blankets, 
Asleep on the hills. — Arnold. 



EXERCISES 89 

9. Yonder in the heather there's a bed for sleeping, 
Drink for one athirst, ripe blackberries to eat; 
Yonder in the sun the merry hares go leaping, 
And the pool is clear for travel-weary feet. 

— Ada Smith. 

10. The hare limped trembling through the frozen 

grass; 
And silent was the flock in woolly fold; 
Numb were the Beadsman's fingers while he told 
His rosary, and while his frosted breath, 
Like pious incense from a censer old, 
Seemed taking flight for heaven, without a death, 
Past the sweet Virgin's picture, while his prayer 

he saith. — Keats. 

11. While you converse with lords and dukes, 
I have their betters here — my books; 
Fixed in an elbow-chair at ease, 

I choose companions as I please. 

I'd rather have one single shelf 

Than all my friends, except yourself; 

For, after all that can be said, 

Our best acquaintances are the dead. — Sheridan. 



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